Tales of Symphonia: The Novelization
by Uzuki Cheverie
Summary: In the dying land of Sylvarant, legend has it that a Chosen One will one day appear from among the people, and the land will be reborn. A novelization of the popular GCN RPG, "Tales of Symphonia". Will hopefully be updated often. Rated T. Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any installments in the Tales series.
1. Light of the Oracle

Hey everyone,

Well, if you haven't already heard, I have a dying obsession for the GCN RPG, _Tales of Symphonia_. So far, it's the best game I've ever played, and I love it so much that I've put in over 1000 hours into it and beaten it over 12 times. So here's a novelization that I started for it, for those of you that either don't own the game, can't FIND the game, or just don't want to play it and would rather read it instead. I tried my best to make it sound good, but it's tricky when you're working right off an IGN game script (it's just hard to add so much depth to the story when you don't want to spoil anything and there's so much dialogue).

Also, I dedicate this novelization to Daulton Jenkins, who still hasn't gotten the chance to borrow my copy of ToS yet. Don't worry, bro, I'll find it soon, it's somewhere in the house! :3

- Uzuki Cheverie

* * *

"_Once upon a time, there existed a giant tree that was the source of mana._

_A war, however, caused this tree to wither away._

_And a hero's life was sacrificed in order to take its place. _

_Grieving over the loss, the goddess disappeared unto the heavens. _

_The goddess left the angels with this edict: _

"_You must wake me, for if I should sleep, the world shall be destroyed."_

_The angels bore the Chosen One, who headed towards the tower that reached up unto the heavens._

_And that marked the beginning of the regeneration of the world."_

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 1: Light of the Oracle**

". . . Lloyd Irving, wake up!"

"Lloyd!"

A chalkboard brush came flying through the air, smacking Lloyd straight in the face. Lloyd came to his senses, and suddenly realized he had fallen asleep standing up, two buckets of water clasped tightly in both his hands.

"Gaah!" Link exclaimed, dropping the buckets to the floor so that he could wipe the chalk dust from his eyes. The buckets had thankfully landed right-side-up, so he didn't spill anything – however, the woman still seemed displease with him.

She approached him with a strict glare. ". . . How do you manage to sleep standing?"

Lloyd blinked a few times to wake himself up. ". . . Oh, Professor Raine." He looked around in the classroom, and noticed that all the students in the room were staring at him, some giggling, others shaking their heads in disapproval.

"Eh . . . is class over?"

Professor Raine began to walk back to her desk. "Never mind," she sighed. "Let's have someone else answer the question." She passed by a boy who looked similar to her – light skin, silver hair, and an elfish face.

"Genis, how about you?" she asked the boy.

Genis nodded and stood from his desk. "Yes, Raine."

Raine seated herself at her desk as Genis began to answer her question.

"Mithos, the hero, brought about the end of the Ancient War in the Holy Ground of Kharlan."

"Correct," Raine said with a smile. "Afterwards, Mithos, the hero, formed a pact with the Goddess Martel to seal away the Desians whom caused the war."

Lloyd spoke up. "But the Desians came back and are now causing everyone to suffer!"

Raine didn't give him a glance, but responded anyway, "We covered that in class last time, remember? When the Seal weakens, the Desians reappear. Just like they have now."

A sheepish grin grew on Lloyd's face, and he scratched his head in embarrassment. "I . . . I knew that. I . . . I just forgot . . ."

"Today is the Day of Prophecy," Raine continued to teach the class. "It is a very important day, which the Chosen of Mana will receive an oracle from the Goddess Martel." She turned her attention to the youthful girl with the long blond hair sitting in the front row. "Now Chosen One . . . Colette."

Colette stood up from her desk with an accomplished smile on her face. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Tell us about the journey of world regeneration."

"It is a journey to seal the Desians," she replied. "Upon passing the trials of the Goddess Martel, the Summon Spirits that protect the world awaken, and mana is restored."

"Correct," Raine said. She had a proud smile for Colette. "I suppose we should expect the Chosen herself to know the answer to that one. Mana depletion is the cause of the current food shortages and droughts. It is said that this occurs because the Desians consume vast amounts of mana in their human ranches."

Lloyd was about to fall asleep again, but he snapped to his senses when he saw Colette looking back at him. She only glanced at him for a moment before turning her gaze back to Raine and sitting back down at her desk.

"The Chosen's journey has two purposes – to revive mana as well as defeat the Desians. Now, for the next question –"

Suddenly, a flash of light burst off in the distance, so bright that it even lit up the classroom for a split second before disappearing again.

Lloyd was shocked. "Wh . . . What was that?"

"That's . . ." Colette began, but stopped. The students in the classroom started to get very antsy and excited – it wasn't something they saw every day in their little village.

"Settle down," Raine hushed the students. "It would seem that the time for the oracle has come. I will go and check on the chapel. Everyone, stay here and study on your own." She cast a sharp glance in Lloyd's direction. "Understood?"

All the students nodded and sat back down in their desks. Raine proceeded to get up from her desk and leave the one-room classroom. Before she could make it out the door, however, Colette stood up.

"Professor! I'll go with you!" she exclaimed.

"No, Colette," Raine objected. "If it is the oracle, the priests will come here for you. Wait here with everyone else."

As Raine runs off…

"Yes, ma'am . . ." Colette sighed in disappointment. Raine smiled at her and then left the building.

Lloyd looked at the rest of the students, all of them studying out of their books – except for Colette, who was sitting at her desk all alone – and began to feel extremely bored. He didn't want to sit around and wait for the Professor to return, so he started to head for the door.

"Lloyd!" Genis exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. "Where are you going? Don't tell me you're sneaking out! Raine will get mad!"

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders. "I'm really curious to find out what really happens to Colette when she receives the oracle. They always talk about the Chosen of Regeneration and the Day of Prophecy, but no one tells us what really happens." And he was intent on finding out himself.

But Genis was persistent. "But my sister said to stay and study by ourselves."

"It's research," Lloyd growled, starting to get impatient.

"That's just an excuse!" Genis fumed.

"So? An excuse is an excuse, right? Don't be so stuffy. You're coming too, right? We're best friends after all!"

A grim look crossed Genis' face – he didn't agree with Lloyd at all.

Lloyd ignored him and averted his attention to Colette instead. "Colette, want to come along, too?"

Colette seemed to be in a daze, and snapped to her senses when Lloyd began talking to her. ". . . Huh? Um, okay." She got up from her desk and went to join Lloyd and Genis.

"So, where to?"

Lloyd groaned. "Where else? That light! You're directly involved in all of this. Aren't you curious?"

"Hmm . . . Are you curious about it?"

"Of course!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Okay, then I'll be curious about it, too."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, but took it as a "Yes" anyway. He turned to Genis a smirk. "See? Dwarven Vow #4: 'Don't depend on others. Walk on your own two legs.'

"Not the Dwarven Vows again," Genis sighed. "You always use those when you need an excuse . . ."

"Okay, okay, fine," Lloyd growled angrily, giving up. "Sheesh . . ."

"Honestly, Lloyd. It's not pretty when Raine gets mad."

"Man . . . I was really looking forward to seeing what happens with the oracle." He didn't like Genis for always taking all the fun out of everything.

As the students were heading back to their desks, a person suddenly came trudging into the room. It was a pastor.

"Chosen One!" he gasped. He tried to make it to Colette, but fell onto the floor before he could make it to her.

"Pastor?"

"Hey! Are you alright?"

The pastor coughed in pain, blood coming out from his throat. "The Desians attacked the temple . . ." he choked.

"Wait, Iselia has a non-aggression treaty with the Desians," Genis said, becoming a little confused.

"You mean that agreement where they don't attack the village as long as we leave the human ranch alone?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes . . ." Colette whispered sadly. "Grandmother said it was to protect me . . ."

"I don't . . . know why . . ." the pastor said weakly, "but they have broken the treaty . . . Chosen One . . . hurry . . ." He took her hand in his. "Receive the oracle . . ."

"I will," Colette said with a nod.

The pastor coughed again, blood spurting from his mouth. "Please . . . be careful . . . I regret that I was . . . unable to protect . . . the Cho . . ." The coughs became more violent, so much that he could barely speak.

"Pastor, hang on!" Colette begged him, squeezing his hand tightly.

Eventually, he stopped coughing, and went silent. His skin became cold.

"It's no good," Lloyd muttered. "He's gone . . ."

Genis and Colette both covered their faces in grief.

Colette stood up from her knees. ". . . I'm going."

Genis jumped to his feet in shock. "Colette, there are Desians outside!"

"Yes . . ." Colette whispered, a hint of fear in her frail voice. ". . . but I have to go. I am the Chosen. My job is to accept the oracle on the Day of Prophecy. Everyone, wait here, alright?"

Genis turned to Lloyd for more input. "Lloyd, are you going to let Colette go by herself?" he yelled.

Lloyd nodded. "I'm going, too. I can't let you go by yourself, Colette."

"Are you sure?" Colette asked worriedly, her frown getting bigger. "It's dangerous."

A wide grin grew on Lloyd's face. "Dwarven Vow #1: 'Let's all work together for a peaceful world.' Let's go."

"Wait, I'm going too!" Genis stopped them before they were able to leave the building. "I'm worried about Raine."

Colette smiled at her two friends. "Thanks , both of you."

* * *

The village was quiet, and completely deserted. It almost felt like a ghost town to Lloyd, Colette, and Genis.

"There's no one here . . ." Colette said, feeling a little bit afraid.

"They're scared," Genis replied. "They must be hiding from the Desians."

A voice called for Colette in the distance. A middle-aged man with blond hair and a hard face approached them.

"Father!" Colette exclaimed; she was so relieved to see that her father was safe.

"Frank! Is it true that the Desians attacked?" Genis asked him.

Frank frowned, and regretfully nodded. "Yes, it's true. Thankfully, no one was hurt. They passed through the village and headed for the temple."

"Father, where is Grandmother?" Colette asked, her voice raising in panic.

"Phaidra is in the temple preparing for the ritual."

"Phaidra's in the temple?" Lloyd asked. "But that's where the Desians . . ."

Frank patted Lloyd's shoulder in reassurance. "The priests are there with her. There's no need to worry." He turned to his daughter. "Now, Colette . . ."

"I know," Colette said for him. "I promise to fulfill my duty as the Chosen."

"Good luck, Colette," her father said with a smile. Then he turned to her classmates. "Lloyd, Genis, you two should go on home."

"I'm worried about letting Colette go by herself," Lloyd objected. "I'll go with her to the temple."

"Me, too," Genis agreed.

Frank looked a little disgusted with their answers. "But . . ." He sighed and shook his head. "Alright. Thank you. I'll wait at the house. Come back immediately if anything happens."

Lloyd gave Frank a smile and a thumbs-up, and then he led the group away towards the back exit of the village, towards the direction of the Temple.

They were about to pass through the gate when a monster suddenly appeared.

"Whoa, it's a monster!" Lloyd exclaimed; he wasn't used to dealing with monsters inside of the village, so it surprised him.

"I thought the northern region where the temple is located was a sanctuary!" Genis said, his expression just as shocked as Lloyd's. "Why are there . . ."

"It must be a part of the trial," Colette explained. "Martel's trial involves battling monsters."

"We don't have time to talk!" Lloyd yelled, drawing his two wooden swords. "Let's get this thing!"

"Roger!" Genis approved, grabbing his kendama – it was a strange weapon that looked like a hammer with a rubber ball attached to it. Being an elf, he knew magic; the weapon helped him channel it.

Colette pulled out two chakrams – metal rings that she carried in each hand.

Lloyd charged at the first monster he saw, a Zombie that was lumbering towards their group. He struck at it, his swords batting away at the creature's body. They weren't made of steel or metal, so the swords weren't as powerful as they could be, but they had been crafted by his dad, a dwarf who lived in the woods outside of Iselia – he had a lot to be proud of, especially his swords.

Genis bounced the rubber ball around on his kendama, summoning up his magic power through his body and focusing it into fire balls. He let the fire fly through the air, three fire balls smashing into the Zombie's body.

Trying not to get cut by its claw-like fingernails, Colette clumsily wacked her chakrams at the beast, swinging her arms in half-moon motions to bring the rings around to the monster's body – like the rest of her friend's weapons, her chakrams did little damage, but it was enough to do the finishing blow to the creature.

"That was easy!" Lloyd cheered after the Zombie had fallen.

"Lloyd, you're amazing!" Colette giggled, clapping her hands happily.

"Ah, well . . ." Lloyd's face turned red in embarrassment. He brought his hand up to show the jewel that was embedded on it, right through his red glove. "I owe it to this thing, though."

Genis stared at the jewel. "Ah, that's right, the Exsphere."

"Yeah. It's designed for combat and brings out my maximum strength. Without this thing, I'd be nothing . . ."

Colette shook her head. "But you're still strong, Lloyd!"

Genis shrugged his shoulders and smiled teasingly. "Yeah, at least his sword skills are good."

Lloyd gave an annoyed look to his elven friend. ". . . What do you mean, 'at least'?"

Before Genis could respond, two more monsters appeared. It was another Zombie, and a Ghost.

"There's another one! Let's go, you two!" Lloyd ordered.

Colette stopped him before he could get to the monsters. "Wait, Lloyd! The Professor said magic is more effective than physical attacks against non-physical and spiritual monsters."

Lloyd tilted his head in wonder at her words. "Really?"

Genis groaned. "Yes!"

Lloyd turned back to the monsters, sighing, "Okay, then, I'll leave the Ghost to Genis. I'll go for the Zombie! Okay, here we go!"

"Yeah!"

"Okay!"

The three teenagers ran into the next fight, Lloyd and Colette heading straight for the Zombie that was lumbering around with its oversized hands and gruesome skin. While they took down the Zombie, Genis paid attention to firing as many fire balls as he could at the Ghost – Colette was right, the magic worked a lot better on the Ghosts than Lloyd's swords or Colette's chakrams would have.

Genis checked himself over to make sure he wasn't hurt. No wounds, which he expected considering he wasn't a close-range fighter like Lloyd or Colette. The both of them seemed alright too – just a few cuts and bruises here and there. It was to be expected if Colette was going to take on the trial of Martel.

"We have to be careful," Genis muttered.

"Let's go to the temple," Lloyd told them, leading them through the gate towards the backfields of Iselia. The three friends walked through the green grass fields, towards the hill that nested the beautifully-built Temple. It wasn't a big temple at all – but it was the starting point for Colette's journey. The bright blue light was still radiating from the temple, straight into the sky and never-ending.

"Whoa, that light really is coming from the temple!" Lloyd exclaimed in surprise and wonder when they reached the main area of the temple – all that was separating them from it was a long flight of stairs that went up the hill.

"Then an oracle is going to be conveyed," Genis said as he stared up at the pillar of light. "Colette's going to be the Chosen of Regeneration."

Lloyd and Genis looked at Colette, the future Chosen, who was also staring up at the light.

". . . It's really, really bright!" she exclaimed happily.

Lloyd and Genis both groaned.

"Say, Colette . . . when the oracle is conveyed, you'll become the Chosen who will save the world, right?" Lloyd asked. "You're going to be like the hero, Mithos! So maybe you should act a little more . . . you know, Chosen-like . . . ?"

Colette beamed at him. "Yeah! No problem, no problem."

Something caught Genis' attention. He looked towards the top of the stairwell where the Temple sat.

"Hey, there's a lot of commotion at the temple."

Lloyd could hear it too. It sounded like swords clanging and magic being fired.

"You're right!" Lloyd agreed. He approached the stairs. "Let's go, you two!"

Colette and Genis both nodded in agreement. Lloyd led the way, Genis following and Colette taking the rear.

Just as they were nearing the stairs, Colette tripped.

"Ow . . ."

Lloyd rushed back to help her.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Colette giggled as she got up from the ground and brushed herself off. "Sorry about that."

Lloyd gave her an odd look, but then proceeded to lead the group up the stairwell that lead to the radiating temple.

* * *

The elderly woman backed away from the soldiers and their leader, a burly man with spiky black hair and a rough-and-tumble face.

"Where is the Chosen?" their leader asked.

The old woman backed away from them. Just in time, Lloyd, Colette, and Genis arrived at the top.

"Run, Colette!" the old woman exclaimed.

The soldiers turned to face the three teenagers.

"Lord Botta, there she is!" one of the leader's henchmen exclaimed, his sword clenched tightly in his hand.

The leader named Botta turned around as well to face them. He looked straight at Colette.

"Chosen One! Your life is mine!" he yelled.

Lloyd drew his sword at the man's threatening words.

"I won't let you Desians get away with anything!"

One of the soldiers laughed. "Desians? . . . Hahaha!"

"What's so funny?" Genis growled; he felt like they were being made fun of."

The second soldier stepped forward with his sword. "Well then, die at the hands of the Desians you so hate. Get them!"

The two soldiers charged at Lloyd's group with their swords, forcing Lloyd to draw both his swords to fight. Colette pulled out her chakrams, and Genis prepared his kendama. One of the soldiers approached Lloyd with his blade; he blocked his attack, and counterattacked with a blow to the man's chest.

The soldier left when he felt the wooden sword whack against his chest – it hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as a normal sword would have.

Lloyd felt angry at this humiliation – he knew that if he had real swords, he'd be able to finish the guy in no time, but instead he was stuck with these wooden toys. As he looked around, he realized that Colette was having the same kind of trouble. Genis was the only one that was doing a decent job, thanks to his magic; he had already charred one of the soldiers to death.

Eventually, Lloyd managed to decently knock out the last soldier, striking him down with a blow to the head. That was the problem with fighting humans – they didn't go down as easily as monsters.

Lloyd caught his breath, hoping that those soldiers were all he was supposed to fight. But he thought too soon, because before he could even pull himself back together, a gigantic man dressed in armour and carrying a spiked ball and chain stomped out from the temple. And he looked mad.

"Do not get in our way!" he roared as he swung his spiked iron ball in the air as if it were as light as a feather.

Lloyd was tired, but he couldn't give up yet. The three of them charged at him, trying their best to dodge his iron ball. Lloyd's attacks barely did anything against the man's armour – no thanks to his meagre attacks and weak weapons.

Suddenly, the iron ball came around and knocked Lloyd back, nearly knocking him out cold. When he came to, his vision was blurry and he felt weak. Genis and Colette were just barely hanging on; it seemed that Genis' fire magic or Colette's chakrams didn't have much of an effect on the man's armour either.

Genis slumped to his knees. "This guy's strong!"

Lloyd nodded in agreement, wiping the sweat from his brow.

The large man brought up his ball and chain, ready to strike them. Lloyd closed his eyes tight, waiting for the blow . . .

He heard the sound of a metal sword being drawn and weapons clashing. Standing in front of him, defending him with a shield and sword, was a tall red-brown haired man dressed in purple robes.

"Who are you?" Lloyd asked.

He didn't respond to his question. Instead, he growled, "Get out of the way."

They were suddenly thrust into battle again, this time with the help of the mysterious person who had protected them from this monster of a man. The stranger's attacks were strong and quick, and every time he struck the enemy it looked like it did major damage. Lloyd did his best to help, but there was only so much he could do when his attacks were so weak compared to the stranger's.

And of course, it was the man who gave the finishing blow.

The leader of the soldiers – Botta – suddenly looked afraid. "I never thought you'd show up," he said. "Damn . . . retreat for now!"

The soldiers and their terrified leader ran off down the stairwell, away from the temple, leaving Lloyd and his companions to treat to their wounds.

Colette stared in awe at the mysterious stranger. "Amazing!" she gasped.

"This guy's incredibly strong!" Genis exclaimed

Lloyd was not impressed. "Y-Yeah. I . . . I suppose so . . ."

The man turned to face the three teenagers from Iselia.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked them. "Hmm . . . no one seems to be hurt."

Lloyd caught a glimpse of the shimmer on the man's left hand.

"Is that an Exsphere?"

The man ignored him.

The old woman, who was Colette's grandmother, Phaidra, approached the group.

"How can I ever thank you for saving the Chosen?" she asked the mysterious man.

The man eyed Colette. " . . . I see. So this girl is the next Chosen."

"That's right!" Colette said. "I have to go accept the oracle!" She turned to her grandmother. "Grandmother, I'm going to undergo the trial now."

"What trial?" Lloyd asked.

"The monsters, I assume," the stranger replied in his cool-and-collected voice. "An evil presence radiates from inside this chapel."

"Yes, that is correct," Phaidra said with a warm, elderly smile. "The Chosen is to receive judgement from heaven. But the priests that were to accompany her fell at the hands of the Desians."

Lloyd stepped forward. "Then I'll take on the job of protecting Colette."

"Lloyd? . . . I would be uneasy with just you," Phaidra pondered.

The man gave Lloyd an odd look. "Your name is Lloyd?"

"Yeah," Lloyd grumbled. "But who are you to ask for my name?"

The man smirked. "I am Kratos, a mercenary. As long as you can pay me, I'll accept the job of guarding the Chosen."

Phaidra nodded at his offer. "Under the circumstances, I have little choice. Please be of service."

"It's a deal, then."

"W-Wait, I'm going too!" Lloyd shouted.

Kratos gave him a dirty look. "Lloyd, you'll only get in the way. Be a good boy and wait here."

"What did you say?" Lloyd asked, starting to feel a little bit betrayed and pissed off.

"Did I not make myself clear? You're a burden. Go home."

Colette stepped forward shyly. "Um . . . Mr. Kratos, would it be okay to take Lloyd along, too?"

Kratos scowled with displeasure and slight worriedness. "But . . ."

"Please. I get nervous when Lloyd's not around."

Kratos sighed in defeat. ". . . Do as you wish."

Colette and Kratos walked ahead towards the Temple.

"Let's go, Genis!" Lloyd said, turning around to face his friend.

"What?" Genis exclaimed. "I'm going to?"

"Of course!"

"This isn't a field trip, you know," Kratos growled under his breath.

Lloyd caught up with Colette.

"Thanks, Colette . . ."

"It's the truth!"


	2. The Temple and the Woman at the Ranch

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 2: The Temple and the Woman at the Ranch**

"So this is what the inside of the temple is like," Lloyd said as he looked around the main lobby area of the Martel Temple. The temple was very round, four different corridors – including the entrance – spreading out from different directions.

"Colette, you've been in here many times, right?" Genis asked.

"Yeah, but it seems different than usual," Colette said wondrously.

"I sense the presence of monsters," Kratos muttered. "Don't let your guard down."

"We can handle a few measly monsters," Lloyd snickered. "Let's go."

Kratos stepped in front of him to stop him. "Wait. Lloyd . . . are your sword techniques self-taught?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Kratos approached Lloyd and gave him a little book with many notes written down inside it. It was some kind of training manual.

"What is this thing?" Lloyd asked as he took it into his hands.

"If you are going to use a sword, then at least learn the basics. You want to protect the Chosen, don't you?"

Lloyd turned red with anger and embarrassment. "Humph! You think you know so much!"

The group continued forward to the corridor that was right across from the entrance. When they reached the end of the hallway, they had to stop – a strange blue force field was blocking the way forward.

"It's sealed," Kratos mumbled.

"The Sorcerer's Ring can probably open it," Colette said.

"Well, let's go get it then," Lloyd muttered.

"I don't know where it is . . . sorry," Colette sighed.

Lloyd groaned. "Alright, let's go find it then . . ."

Lloyd and the group left that corridor and moved on to the next one. While avoiding the monsters that were stalking the hall, they made it to the end where a downward flight of stairs was waiting. They walked down the stairs to enter a larger basement area. There was another level beneath the one they were standing on – it was almost like the floor they were on was merely a huge table placed in the middle of the room. They could see a pedestal on the lower level near the back of the room; some kind of glowing stone was sitting on it.

"Look, look! There's something glowing," Genis pointed out at the pedestal.

"Wow! Let's go see it!" Lloyd said excitedly.

Colette strayed from the group. "Look, there's something here."

"Watch out!" Kratos exclaimed as he ran towards the giant rock monster that was wandering around on the table-like floor. He drew his sword and attacked it, trying to create some distance between the Golem and the Chosen.

Lloyd and the others sprang into action, defeating the monster rather quickly now that Kratos was on their team.

When they defeated it, it didn't collapse and die like the others – instead, it turned into some kind of huge block.

"Wow! It turned into a rock!" Colette exclaimed, her face glowing with excitement.

"Well, it was kind of a rock to begin with," Lloyd muttered sarcastically.

Colette walked towards the block, when all of a sudden she lost her balance and tripped.

"Oops!"

She hit the block as she fell. It slid forward rather easily, falling through a nearby hole in the floor.

"Uh . . ." Lloyd groaned.

"Oh, no!" Colette gasped in shock.

Genis and Kratos stared down into the level below them, and saw that the block had actually fit into one of the holes in the path below, completing the once broken path.

"I get it," Genis whispered.

"I see."

Lloyd gave them both confused looks. "What are you two talking about?"

"In just a moment, it'll probably . . . see, there it is." Genis pointed to the newly-regenerated Golem that had appeared on the floor.

"Whoa, there's another one!" Lloyd yelled.

"Now, let's take care of it and drop it down below!"

Lloyd was still slightly confused, but he did as he was told and helped to take out the newborn Golem. Just like the last one, it turned into a block. Genis pushed the block into another hole.

They kept up the pattern, defeating Golems and dropping their block bodies into the holes in the floor, completing the paths below them. When they were sure they had filled in all the empty spots, they went down to the floor below via the staircase, and then crossed the blocks they had pushed in earlier.

They climbed up the staircase that lead to the lone pedestal holding the glowing item.

"Is this the Sorcerer's Ring? I've heard about it before. It's a holy artefact of the Church of Martel!" Genis said, his eyes glowing with wonder.

"With this, we should be able to deal with most traps and obstacles," Kratos observed.

Lloyd jumped forward and grabbed it. "Wow! Let me try it!"

"Okay, Lloyd," Colette giggled.

"You're like a little kid . . ." Genis sighed.

Lloyd and the group returned to the main floor, heading towards the door they had found earlier that was sealed off.

"Okay! Leave it to me!" Lloyd said confidently as he approached the door. He used the ring to shoot a tiny little flame towards the seal – it was enough to cause the seal to disappear, giving them entry to the teleporter ahead of them.

Lloyd suddenly looked really disappointed.

"Oh. Is this all the Sorcerer's Ring does?"

Genis shook his head at him. "You get bored so easily."

Lloyd ignored Genis' comment and moved forward, stepping onto the teleporter with the group. The teleporter activated, sending them to a new room. It was small, and had a huge round altar sitting in the middle.

"This appears to be the top floor," Kratos said.

"Yes. That's the altar," explained Colette.

Lloyd stared at the glowing object in the center of the altar. "Then that shining thing there must be a Cruxis Crystal."

"That's right," Colette said with a warm smile. "They say I was born with that in my hand."

Suddenly, a light began to glow atop the altar.

"Look at that light!" Genis gasped, pointing at it as it glowed from the top of the room. White feathers began to gently float from the light.

Out of the light, a priest appeared, bearing large white angel wings on his back.

"Wh-What is that?" Lloyd gasped in shock.

"An angel, I would assume," Kratos hissed.

Genis stared at the majestic creature. "So is that Colette's real father?"

The angel looked back at them with warm eyes. "I am Remiel," he began, his voice deep and god-like. "I am an angel of judgement. I am here to guide Colette, daughter of the mana lineage, on her journey to heaven as the seventh Chosen."

Remiel descended a bit from the ceiling, his wings keeping him afloat.

"The time has come to awaken the Goddess Martel, who sleeps at the center of the world."

Genis was immediately intrigued. "Awaken the Goddess Martel . . . It's just like the legend Raine told us about."

The floating orb that was sitting on the altar rose from its spot, and made its way to Colette. The light exploded all at once, revealing a golden necklace with a red jewel tied tightly around Colette's neck.

"From this moment, Colette becomes the Chosen of Regeneration," Remiel said proudly. "We of Cruxis bless this event, and hereby bestow the Tower of Salvation upon Sylvarant."

Lloyd, Genis, and Kratos looked out the window. There, miles away, they could see a huge white tower stretching through the sky and even higher, straight into the heavens.

"So that's the Tower of Salvation!" Lloyd said in awe as he stared at the beautiful sight.

Genis smiled. "Now the world will be saved!"

Colette stayed with Remiel.

"Colette, the Chosen of Regeneration," Remiel spoke in the same deep tone. "Unlock the seals that guard the Tower of Salvation and climb its stairs to heaven in distant lands."

Colette nodded. "I humbly accept this task."

"Very good. We of Cruxis shall grant you the power of the angels with each seal you unlock. Once you are reborn as an angel, this eroded world shall be regenerated."

"Thank you. I swear on my life I will regenerate the world."

"First head south, to the Seal of Fire," Remiel continued to explain. "Offer your prayers in that distant land."

"Yes, Lloyd Remiel."

Remiel began to fly back up towards the glowing light above him, ready to leave for the heavens once more.

"Uh, wait!" Colette stammered, stopping him. "Please wait! I have a question I wish to ask of you." She took a deep breath. "Are you really my fa-"

He didn't let her finish.

"First, head to the Seal of Fire. Understood?" he said. "My beloved daughter, Colette."

"F . . . Father!" Colette cried. ". . . So you really are my true father."

"We shall meet again at the next seal, my daughter," Remiel said his last words before ascending back towards the light, disappearing and leaving nothing behind but a few white angel feathers.

Genis smiled. "So that was the oracle. I wish Raine could have seen him."

Lloyd went over to Colette, who looked stricken with awe, fear, and happiness.

"I can't believe Remiel is my father . . ." she cried under her breath. ". . . I'm all right. I was just a little surprised, that's all."

Kratos stepped forward. "You've received the oracle. Then let us leave now, Chosen."

Colette blinked, trying to bring herself back to reality. ". . . Oh, yes."

Kratos turned to Lloyd and Genis. "We're going on ahead." Then he spun around on his heels and headed for the teleporter, disappearing like a hologram image through the device.

"Uh . . . thank you, both of you," Colette stammered in thanks. "Please stop by my house later."

Then she also turned around and disappeared into the teleporter.

"She left . . ." Lloyd muttered.

"The rumour was true," Genis suddenly said.

"What rumour?"

"That Colette is the daughter of an angel and is not really related to her current father."

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders in doubt. "Even if you're not related by blood, family is family . . . at least, that's what I think."

"I-I'm sorry," Genis said shamefully.

"Hey, don't worry about it."

Lloyd and Genis went into the teleporter, disappearing and then reappearing in the Temple's main room. They stopped when they saw Professor Raine standing there, in some kind of trance.

"MARVELOUS!" she exclaimed loudly.

". . . Professor?" Lloyd muttered.

She suddenly snapped out of her odd trance and spun around to face the boys.

"What? What are you two doing here?" she shouted. "You're supposed to be studying in class!"

Lloyd suddenly felt like he had made the wrong decision of talking to her. "Uh! Uh-oh . . ."

Raine stomped towards Genis.

"Raine!" Genis said, his face becoming more frightened each second. "I . . . I'm sorry!"

Lloyd shut his eyes for a brief moment, fearing the worst. When he opened his eyes, he saw Genis doubled over underneath Raine's arm, the other hand spanking him like there was no tomorrow.

Lloyd shut his eyes again; it was all too weird for him to comprehend, let alone look at.

". . . You're next, Lloyd. Are you ready?"

Lloyd snapped his eyes open. He saw Genis hunched over on the ground just a few feet away, and then he saw the Professor standing directly in front of him, her eyes flaming with anger.

"Whoa, no, hey, stop!"

Lloyd saw stars as Raine brought her foot up and kicked him square in the chest, knocking him backwards onto the floor. As if he hadn't already been thrown around enough for one day.

"Oww!"

Raine ignored their cries of pain. "Now, you two, if you've learned your lesson, go back home. There will be no class for the rest of the day."

"What about you?" Genis asked.

"I've received permission from Phaidra to study this temple a little while longer. It's not often that ordinary citizens have the opportunity to enter this place."

Then she turned around and walked down one of the corridors, leaving the two boys behind.

Lloyd and Genis brushed themselves off from their beatings, and then headed for the exit.

"MUHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lloyd stopped. "What was that?" he asked Genis.

Genis hesitated for a moment, and then said, "You're better off not knowing."

* * *

When the boys made it back to Iselia, they headed straight for Colette's home. It was a very big house, and always had lots of flowers growing around it from Phaidra's constant gardening. They entered the house to see Kratos, Colette, Frank, Phaidra, and the Mayor of Iselia seated at the table in the center of the main room. They were in the middle of some kind of meeting.

"Then, we shall entrust the protection of the Chosen to Kratos and Raine," the mayor said.

"I have no objections," Kratos replied.

Colette noticed the boys enter. "Thank you so much for your help earlier!"

"Ohh, you're back!" Phaidra said. "Thank you for your assistance earlier! Please accept this small thanks." She handed a small book to them – it looked like some kind of collector's book for storing journal entries and files in.

"Thank you," Genis said.

"Thanks, Phaidra," said Lloyd. "Say, were you talking about the world regeneration journey just now?"

"Yes," Phaidra said, nodding her head.

"Wow! I want to go, too! I wanna see Colette regenerate the world!"

"If Raine is going, I want to go, too," Genis agreed.

Kratos suddenly spoke up with tension in his voice. "No. You'll get in the way."

"Wh-What?" Lloyd stammered with a rising anger in his voice; he was getting sick of Kratos' cruel words.

"The battles at the chapel were nothing compared to the journey that awaits us," Kratos said coldly. "Children need to stay home."

The mayor nodded in agreement. "Kratos is absolutely right. Now then, we still have things to discuss. You two should go on home."

Defeated, Lloyd and Genis walked out from the house with disappointment splashed on their faces.

The door opened behind them, and Colette stepped out.

"Please, wait!" she begged them. Before she could make it to them, however, she lost her balance again, her arms making huge windmill movements as she tried to catch it again, but failed, and fell onto the ground.

Lloyd rolled his eyes at her.

Colette got back up and brushed her backside off.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"It's not like it's your fault," Lloyd sighed.

"Oh yeah . . . I'm sorry."

"Listen! Ah, never mind," Lloyd growled; it always annoyed him how Colette was always apologizing for things she didn't need to apologize for.

Genis suddenly pulled out a small plastic bag filled with cookies from his backpack.

"Oh yeah, happy birthday, Colette!" he cheered.

A puzzled look crossed Lloyd's face.

"I baked you some cookies. If I knew you'd be leaving tomorrow, I would've made something a little more special, but . . ."

"No, no, I love your cookies!" Colette laughed happily. "Thank you very much!"

Genis turned to Lloyd with impatience in his eyes. "So what about you, Lloyd? You promised to make her a necklace, right?"

"Uh . . . heh . . ." Lloyd chuckled to himself, scratching his head, his face heating up in embarrassment again.

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Uh, it's . . . it's almost done. Uh, I'll give it to you . . . tomorrow, before you leave. I swear!"

Colette's face brightened. "Really? I'm so happy! As soon as I find out when we're leaving, I'll go to your house to let you know."

"Isn't it going to be dangerous?" Lloyd asked worriedly – he lived out in the woods, where there were monsters and other things that could attack her.

"I'm the Chosen, remember?" Colette giggled. "I'll be fine. See you later, then."

Then she went back into her house and closed the door behind her.

Genis scowled at Lloyd. " . . . Liar."

"If I start on it now, I'll finish it in time," Lloyd said confidently.

"Oh, really? Well, whatever. By the way, you're going home now, right? Can I go part of the way with you?"

"Sure, but where are you going to go?"

"I'm going to see a friend."

Lloyd raised his eyebrow at him. "Huh? I didn't know you had friends outside the village besides me."

"Does it matter? Anyway, can we swing by my house so I can get my stuff?"

Lloyd nodded, and the two boys began to walk the dirt road through the village. While they were passing by, they decided to stop in at the school to see if there were any other students still there. The students were gone, but Raine was back.

"Hey, it's Raine," Genis said as he ran towards his sister.

"Professor," Lloyd greeted her.

"Oh, Lloyd, Genis. Class is over for today," she reminded them.

"We know that," Lloyd replied. "I heard you're going with Colette on the journey?"

"Yes, that's right. It's too dangerous a journey to send Colette alone."

"But then, what's Genis going to do?" Lloyd wondered.

"I asked Frank and Phaidra to take care of him," Raine answered.

Genis suddenly looked sad. "Raine . . . I . . ."

"Genis . . ." Raine sighed. "I promise I'll come back, so please, don't look like that." She turned her gaze to Lloyd. "Lloyd, please look after Genis for me."

"Yeah . . ." Lloyd agreed, suddenly feeling the same sadness Genis was feeling – he was going to miss the Professor.

"Please be careful, Raine," Genis said worriedly. "Don't do anything dangerous and don't go near any ruins."

"I'll be fine."

"Promise me you'll come back!"

Raine smiled, and nodded.

* * *

Lloyd and Genis finally made it to Genis and Raine's house. Lloyd had been there before, and if there was anything he remembered about it, it was the fact that it was always stuffed full with books.

When they got inside, Genis started going through his things in the kitchen.

"Let's see . . . there should be some ingredients for sandwiches in here . . ."

Lloyd stared at him. "When you said you wanted to get ready, you meant picking up ingredients? Why are you bothering with that?"

"You shouldn't make fun of cooking, Lloyd. We can't use healing arts, so we need to use food to keep up our strength."

Lloyd thought over his words for a moment, and then replied, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Apple Gels aren't cheap, after all."

"Exactly," Genis said as he placed a loaf of bread into his bag. "Cooking is important."

Lloyd helped Genis pack away all the ingredients they needed for the sandwiches, including cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise, and chicken.

They left Genis' house, his bag loaded with food, and began to head towards the entrance to the village, where two guards stood on lookout, pitchforks in their hands. They didn't really have a high-level defense system in Iselia, but it was better than nothing, and the odds of Iselia getting attacked were slim, especially with the non-aggression treaty with the Desians in place.

As Lloyd got closer to the gate, he saw that the guards were yelling about something. When one of the guards saw him, he called him over.

"Lloyd! Do something about this thing!"

"What?" He walked closer, and saw that his dog, Noishe, was trying to get into the village.

"Your pet! This . . . creature!" the other guard screamed.

"Noishe!" Lloyd yelled at his white green-spotted dog. The dog let out a whine.

"Hey!" he yelled at the dog. "How many times have I told you not to enter the village?"

Genis jabbed him in the side. "Hey, you always have him bring you to the village! Don't talk to him that way!"

The second guard stepped forward, trying to keep his distance from Lloyd's strange pet.

"Oh, that reminds me. Lloyd, the mayor wanted me to ask you a question."

"From the mayor? What is it?"

"It's about the northwest forest you go through. You know there's a human ranch on the way through, right? You haven't been playing near the ranch, have you?"

"Of course not!" He turned to his friend. "Right, Genis?"

"Y . . . yeah," Genis stammered nervously. "Of course not."

"Really?" the guard questioned. "If so, that's fine, but . . ." He eyed Noishe. ". . . that weird animal . . ."

Lloyd rolled his eyes at them. "How many times do I have to tell you that Noishe is a dog?" he growled angrily.

"Ah, sorry," the guard sighed. "He just doesn't look like a dog . . . Anyway, make sure he doesn't go near the ranch, either."

Genis hastily grabbed Lloyd's arm. "W-We can go now, right? Let's go, Lloyd."

The guard waved goodbye to them. "Be careful, you two."

"We will," Lloyd said. "See you tomorrow." He put his hand on Noishe. "Time to go, Noishe."

They walked out of the village, when Noishe began to whine again.

"By the way, Noishe, why were you trying to go into the village?" he asked his pet.

The dog whined in response.

"He was probably looking for you."

"You think so?"

Lloyd and Genis made their way across the grassy field of outer Iselia, making their way for the forest line that was just a short distance away. Soon they were underneath the shade of the trees.

Noishe began to feel uneasy, whining more than ever.

"Ah, that's right," Genis began. "Noishe doesn't like this place."

"He'll never go near places like this that have lots of monsters," Lloyd explained. "Even though you hardly ever see monsters bigger than him."

Noishe kept whining, until eventually he turned around and ran off, heading back for the grass fields.

"Ah, he ran off again!" Lloyd exclaimed. "Fine, do whatever you want, Noishe."

Genis watched as Lloyd's dog ran away. "I keep thinking, if he's going to run away, he should at least take us with him."

Lloyd and Genis continued on without Noishe, walking up hills, crossing creeks, and fighting monsters wherever they appeared. Bringing the sandwiches proved to be a good idea – there were several instances where Lloyd decided to eat a sandwich to make him feel a bit better.

Finally, they made it to a long hill that split off into another road along the way. Genis ran onto the other path.

"Here's my stop."

Lloyd's eyes filled with shock. "At the Desian human ranch? Doesn't going there violate the non-aggression treaty?"

"The Desians already attacked the temple!"

Lloyd somewhat agreed. "Hmm, well, yeah, I guess that's true, but . . ."

Genis stared at the huge industrial building just a footsteps away. "I know I'm not supposed to . . . but there's someone I just have to tell about the oracle."

"Alright," Lloyd finally gave in. "But I'm worried about you going alone, so I'm going with you."

The two boys crept into the area where the human ranch rested, its huge black walls surrounding it like a cage. They couldn't see it, but there were slaves within the walls, pushing blocks from one spot to another. One of the females suddenly stopped pushing to catch her breath. A Desian soldier brought his whip down hard on her back.

"Hey! Stop slacking off, swine!"

Lloyd and Genis approached an area off to the side, where the fence was instead closed off with barbed wire. Genis ran to the fence when he saw the elderly lady dressed in rags near the fence.

"Marble," he greeted her with a smile.

"Genis!" she greeted back with an even wider smile. Her voice was warm and kind. "Is that your friend?"

"Yeah, I'm Lloyd," Lloyd said. He wasn't expecting Genis' 'friend' to be an older lady.

"I'm pleased to meet you."

"Marble, did you see it?" Genis asked her. "There was an oracle!"

"Yes, I did. I saw the Tower of Salvation. Now, the Chosen's journey of regeneration can finally begin. I hope it is successful this time . . ."

"The last Chosen failed, right?" Lloyd asked.

Marble shook her head, her dirty grey hair falling off to the side of her face. "Yes. I heard the Chosen was killed by Desians during the journey."

Horrible thoughts began to enter Genis' mind. "I wonder if Colette will be alright?"

Marble smiled, and closed her old eyes. "Let us pray to Martel. May she guide the Chosen on a safe journey."

Lloyd's eyes caught a sparkle on Marble's hand.

"Hey . . . Grams-"

"Her name's Marble!" Genis snapped.

". . . Marble. Isn't that an Exsphere?"

Marble looked at the jewel embedded in her wrinkled hand. "Oh, is that what this is called? They placed it on me shortly after I came here."

Lloyd examined it as closely as he could without coming into contact with the barbed wire fence.

"Yeah, that's definitely an Exsphere. But there's no Key Crest on it. An Exsphere without a Key Crest is dangerous."

"What's a Key Crest?" Genis asked curiously. "And how is it dangerous?"

"Attaching an Exsphere directly to your skin supposedly makes you sick. But ironically, it's useless unless you attach it directly onto the skin. So in order to prevent it from making you sick, you carve a spell into a special ore and use that as a mount for the Exsphere. That's the Key Crest."

Marble grinned at him. "You're very knowledgeable."

Genis looked closer at Marble's Exsphere.

"But it looks like Marble's Exsphere doesn't have a mount at all," he pointed out.

"Nope, doesn't look like it," Lloyd said. "If the charm was the only thing needed, I could carve one myself. But there's nothing I can without the inhibitor ore that acts as the mount."

"There has to be something you can do, Lloyd!"

"It's not as easy as you think," Lloyd objected. "Key Crests are dwarven technology."

"Your dad's a dwarf! Please ask him for help, Lloyd!"

Lloyd sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine. I'll ask him."

Genis smiled. "Alright! That's why I like you, Lloyd."

"Please don't trouble yourself," Marble said weakly.

Before they could say anything else, a Desian soldier's voice boomed out from nowhere.

"Hey, old hag! What the hell you doin' over there?"

"Oh, no!" Marble gasped as she glanced back to see the soldier approaching her. "The Desians! Run away, you two! Hurry!"

Marble: (glances back) Oh, no! The Desians! Run away, you two! Hurry!

Lloyd hesitated. "But who knows what they may do to her."

Genis pulled on Lloyd's arm, trying to get him to move. "I know that, but what can we do? If the Desians find out we're here, just think about what they'll do to Marble and the people of the village!"

"That's right," Marble agreed. "You must go."

Lloyd finally gave in. "I'm sorry, grams!"

Lloyd and Genis ran for the bushes, and watched as three soldiers walked towards Marble.

"What are you doing over here?" the first one shouted. "Who said you could slack off? Get back to work!"

". . . I'm sorry," Marble apologized.

"What's with that look, huh?" the second one growled.

The third one smirked, snapping the whip in his hand. "Looks like someone's got an attitude problem.

"No, of course not, I . . ."

"Shaddup!" the first one snapped at her. "You two, take her to the back! We're gonna give her a little lesson on respect!"

"Yeah!" the other two chanted together. The three soldiers grabbed Marble and took her to the back area of the ranch, two of them with whips in hand.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Lloyd growled from behind the bushes. "They're taking her to the back."

"But what can we do?" Genis asked worriedly.

Lloyd began to think. "There's gotta be something we can do. Let's find higher ground where we can see what's going on in there."

Lloyd began to look around, and then saw the small cliff that overlooked the inside of the ranch.

"It looks like we can go up from here," Lloyd said. He and Genis began to climb up to the higher level of the cliff. When they reached the top, they could see the soldiers brutally whipping poor marble, a few other slaves standing by to merely watch, unable to say anything in fear of suffering the same punishment.

"She's . . ." Genis cried, starting to feel sick to his stomach.

"We've gotta save her!" Lloyd yelled.

"But how?"

Lloyd thought for a moment, and then came up with a plan. "You attack the Desians from here with magic."

Genis' eyes widened in shock. "What? Aren't we gonna get in trouble?"

"We don't have a choice! Afterwards, hide among the bushes and make your way back to the village. I'll act as a decoy."

"But that'll put _you_ in danger!"

"Don't worry," Lloyd said calmly. "I'll head down the cliff so they don't see my face, then I'll run in the opposite direction from the village."

Genis thought over the plan. Finally, he nodded. "Okay!" Genis stood up with his kendama in hand. He warmed up his magic power, and then sent three scorching hot fireballs at the soldiers. They hit right on target.

"What the?" one of the Desians yelled.

Lloyd jumped off the cliff to the main ground near the ranch. The Desians spotted him.

"There he is! Stop him!"

"Open the main gate!"

The main gate of the ranch opened, allowing swarms of soldiers to come out and search for Lloyd.

Within the walls of the ranch, one of the slaves approached Marble.

"Are you alright, Marble?" he asked.

"Quickly, come this way!" another slave said.

Marble smiled to herself, whispering, "Genis, Lloyd . . . thank you."

Lloyd ran from the Desian soldiers, while Genis tried to make his way through the bushes without being seen. Suddenly, his foot caught a root in the ground and he went down, hitting the ground with a thud.

"Owww . . ."

The Desians heard him.

"What was that?" one of them snapped.

Lloyd stopped, realizing what had happened. "Uh-oh!"

He spun around and ran back, facing the soldiers and drawing his swords.

One of the guards spat in his direction. "You . . . little brat!"

Lloyd began to fight against the Desians, trying his best to avoid their whips and swords. He batted them around with his wooden blades several times, until he did enough damage to knock them out. When he had won, he saw more soldiers coming out from the ranch, so he made a break for it, leaping off the side of the cliff down onto the ground far below.

Genis eventually found him, panic all over his face.

"Lloyd, they saw your face! I'm sorry! It's all my fault . . ."

"Don't worry about it."

"But . . ."

"I took out the ones that saw my face, and the rest are still back up on the cliff. As long as we hurry up and get out of here, they'll never know."

Genis took a breath and exhaled. "O-Okay."

Lloyd smirked. "Just do my homework for me, okay?"

Genis laughed. "Okay!"

Lloyd stretched his arms out. "Alright then, I'm gonna head on home. You should head back to the village."

"Lloyd, thanks for helping Marble."

Lloyd grinned. "Hey, that's what friends are for, right?"

Genis nodded, and then left the forest, heading back to Iselia.

* * *

The man with the blue-green hair and the robotic arm stood on the cliff's edge, looking down at the ground that was easily over one hundred feet down.

"Analyze the data from the gate surveillance system!" he ordered his soldiers.

"Yes sir!"

The soldiers left to go check the cameras, leaving him to his own thoughts.

The man continued to stare at the bottom of the cliff.

"How did a mere human make that kind of jump?


	3. The Exsphere

Hey everyone,

A bit of a shorter chapter, but does play an important role for later on in the story. Also, for people who have played ToS before, I'd like to let you know that I am kind of just naming the chapters after the sections in the Synopsis guide based on what happens in each one (although for some, like Chapter 2, I have merged the chapter names from the Synopsis and added a bit of originality to them).

I really hope everyone is enjoying the story so far :) Please R&R!

-Uzuki Cheverie

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 3: The Exsphere**

Lloyd soon came out of the forest into a clearing, where a house was sitting peacefully alongside a pleasant creek.

Lloyd smiled. "I'm home, Mom . . ." he said to himself as he looked at the lone gravestone that was sitting near the back of the house.

Lloyd headed towards the house and walked in through the front door. A stout man with a large moustache and rough skin approached him.

"Welcome back," he said with a smile.

"Hi, Dad," Lloyd said back. He decided to bring up his request right away. "Say, is there any chance you could make me a Key Crest?"

His dad – Dirk – gave him an odd look. "Why do you need a Key Crest all of a sudden?"

"I met someone today who has an Exsphere without a Key Crest. An Exsphere without a Key Crest is bad for you, right?" A worried look crossed his face. "Or, wait, don't tell me that it's too late once you've attached an Exsphere without a Key Crest to your body."

"Nah, not at all," Dirk chuckled. "But even removing an Exsphere that lacks a Key Crest is dangerous. So the only thing to do is make an accessory out of inhibitor ore and carve the charm into that, making it into a Key Crest instead."

"Hmmm . . . and then it'll be okay, huh? Then, could you make me a bracelet as soon as possible?"

"Just a minute," Dirk stopped him, a suspicious look in his eyes. "The Exsphere with no Key Crest that you're talking about – who has it?"

"Huh? Ah . . . uhh . . . a traveler," Lloyd lied. The first person that popped into his head was Kratos. "A traveling mercenary."

"Baloney. Exspheres are basically only used by Desians. If he took one from a Desian, it should already have a Key Crest on it."

"Uhh, well . . ." Lloyd was running out of excuses to give, and he really didn't want to have to tell his dad the truth.

"Dwarven Vow #11," Dirk began. "'Lying is the first step to the path of thievery!'"

Great, now Lloyd couldn't lie – he couldn't break one of the sacred Dwarven Vows.

"Tell me the truth. Why do you need a Key Crest."

Lloyd took a deep breath and exhaled. ". . . I met someone at the ranch today who had an Exsphere equipped without a Key Crest."

"You went to the _ranch_?" Dirk exclaimed angrily.

"I . . . I'm sorry. A bunch of stuff happened, and . . ."

"You didn't let the Desians see your Exsphere, did you?"

Lloyd looked down at the jewel embedded in his hand. "No, don't worry, I made sure. But why is it so important to hide this thing? The mercenary that came to the village today wore his right out in the open."

Dirk hesitated, but then spoke, ". . . Your Exsphere is special."

Lloyd raised his eyebrow in wonder. "Special? Is it different from the ones the Desians equipped?"

Dirk's eyes filled with a strange kind of sorrow. ". . . That Exsphere is your mother's keepsake. The Desians killed your mother in order to take it from her."

". . . They did?"

"I told you about how I found you at the cliff near the ranch, right? Your mother was still conscious at the time, so she explained everything. There's no doubt about it."

Lloyd could feel his heart racing and his temper rising. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"If I had, you'd have run out and tried to take revenge on the Desians," Dirk said. "The Tower of Salvation appeared today. Just leave the rest to Colette. That'll take care of the Desians too."

"But still . . ."

Dirk walked towards his son. "Don't get involved with the Desians. Your mother protected you and that Exsphere with her life. Don't go throwing either away."

" . . . So will you make me the Key Crest?"

"Lloyd!" Dirk shouted angrily. "Have you been listening at all?"

"Yeah, I heard you!" Lloyd snapped. "But you can't expect me not to do anything now that I know!"

Dirk reared his hand back into a fist and tried to strike Lloyd, but he jumped back, evading it.

"Ugh! . . . You don't have to hit me!"

Lloyd spun around on his heels and ran outside into the night in a fury. When he was outside, he saw Colette, Raine, Genis, and Kratos waiting on the log bridge that crossed the creek.

"Oh . . . let me guess . . . you heard that just now?" Lloyd muttered, feeling a little bit ashamed.

"I'm sorry," Genis apologized immediately. "Because of me, you . . ."

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

Raine stepped forward. ". . . Lloyd, you should go speak to Colette. We'll wait here."

"Okay."

Colette smiled. "Lloyd, let's go up to the terrace."

"Sure."

* * *

Lloyd and Colette stood up on the terrace that was built off the second floor of the house, just off of Lloyd's room. They could see the full moon perfectly in the sky, and the rest of the forest around them.

"I'm sorry for not finishing your birthday present in time," Lloyd sighed.

"It's okay, don't worry about that," Colette giggled.

"But this sort of thing is special because you get it on your birthday, you know?"

"Well then, will you just wish me a happy birthday?" Colette asked cheerfully.

"Of course," Lloyd chuckled. "Happy birthday."

"Hehe . . . thanks. I'm glad I was able to live to this day."

Lloyd looked at her funny. "What are you talking about? You're going to keep on living and regenerate the world."

Colette stared down below the terrace, a sad look on her face. ". . . Yeah."

"So about tomorrow . . ." Lloyd began shyly. ". . . I can't come along with you, can I?"

Colette looked at him sadly. "Well, it's just that the Desians will be after us and it's going to be a dangerous journey."

"Desians . . ." Lloyd sneered. "Up till now, I always thought my mom died in an accident." He clenched his hands into angry fists. "But she was murdered by Desians! Now that I know the truth, there's no way that I could keep living in a village that has a treaty with them."

". . . I understand," Colette whispered.

There was a brief moment of silence between them before Colette spoke again.

"We're leaving tomorrow at noon. So would you come to the village around then?"

Lloyd smiled widely. ". . . Okay! You got it. Now I'll be able to see you become an angel with my own eyes!"

Colette stared up at the moon hanging above them in the dark night sky. "Hehe . . . yeah. So Lord Remiel really is my father . . . I'm the child of an angel."

"Does it matter?" Lloyd asked. "Regardless of who your real father is, you're still you. Nothing's changed." Lloyd crossed his arms and smiled. "You just have two fathers. Just think of yourself as being lucky for having more than most people do."

Colette grinned. "I suppose you're right."

Lloyd let out a long sigh, taking in the fresh night-time air around him. "World regeneration, huh. It's kind of exciting."

"Yeah . . ." Colette agreed. "Releasing the seals, becoming an angel, then finally . . ."

"Finally . . . ?"

Colette shook her head, and smiled as if she hadn't said anything. "Um, nothing. Anyway, if we go to the Seal of Fire, I'll get to see my father again. I'm going to do my best."

"Yeah, me too."

The door leading to the terrace suddenly opened, and Raine and Genis appeared from inside the house.

"Are you ready to go?" Raine asked Colette.

"Ah, yes, I'm coming," Colette said. She smiled at Lloyd. "See you later, Lloyd."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

Colette stared at him with her big blue eyes, and smiled again, only this time it seemed to hold a bit more sadness than before. "Yeah . . . goodbye . . ."

Then she left the terrace with Genis and Raine.

"Alright, time to make that present," Lloyd said determinedly to himself.

Lloyd looked down to the ground below and saw Colette and the others waving goodbye. He waved back before heading into his room for the night.

* * *

Lloyd put a few more beads onto the string, adding the finishing touches to the homemade necklace. It was morning, and he was ready to head to Iselia around noon, like Colette had asked him.

"It's finished!" Lloyd said triumphantly at the beautifully-crafted necklace. Then he remembered about his dad and the argument they had had the previous night.

He put the necklace carefully into his bag. "Okay, I'd better have a talk with Dad," he sighed to himself.

Lloyd went downstairs. Dirk wasn't there. He went outside, and found his dad by his mother's gravestone.

"Dad . . ." Lloyd said as he approached him. "About yesterday . . . I just . . ."

Dirk turned to him and handed him a bracelet with a golden ore mounted into it. "Here . . . that's the Key Crest you wanted. You can use it however you like. Just remember, I did try to stop you."

"Dad! Thanks!" Lloyd exclaimed as he stared at the accessory.

"Dwarven Vow #2: 'Never abandon someone in need'," Dirk said proudly. "I'm just going along with the teachings."

Lloyd nodded before placing the Key Crest into his bag with Colette's necklace. "Dad," he began. "I'm going on a journey. I'm going to help Colette regenerate the world so that I can avenge my mom."

". . . Yeah," Dirk chuckled. "I figured you were going to say that. I've put together some things you'll need for your trip." He handed him several Apple Gels – used for healing – some Gald, and a map of Sylvarant.

"So you're forgiving me?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah. But remember, this is your home. You're still my son, regardless of blood. Come back here anytime you're tired."

". . . I will. Wish me luck."

"Lloyd, don't ever forget Dwarven Vow #7!" Dirk reminded him.

"'Goodness and love will always win' . . . right? Man, that's such a cheesy line for anyone to be saying these days. Don't worry, I won't forget it."

Lloyd found his dog, Noishe, in his stall. "Let's go, Noishe! It's time to regenerate the world!"

Noishe ran up to Lloyd; for some reason, Genis was with him.

". . . Huh? What are you doing here?" Lloyd asked him.

"Lloyd! You're still here?" Genis yelled.

"Genis! Good timing. I got my dad to make Marble's Key Crest!"

"That's great and all, but what about seeing Colette off?"

"Oh, yeah, about that. I've decided to join her."

"Are you stupid or something?" Genis shouted. "Colette and the others left a long time ago!"

"Wha?"

"I came looking for you because you never showed up!"

Lloyd was shocked, and felt a little betrayed – it wasn't even close to being noon yet. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Lloyd! Go to the village, now!" Dirk ordered him.

Genis grabbed his arm. "Yeah, come on, come on!"

* * *

When Lloyd and Genis made it to the village, one of the guards greeted him.

"Lloyd, Phaidra was looking for you."

"Phaidra?" Lloyd wondered. "Okay."

Lloyd and Genis hurried to Colette's house, where they found Phaidra sitting at the table in the center of the room.

"Oh, hello, Lloyd."

"Phaidra!" Lloyd exclaimed. "Is it true that Colette already left?"

The elderly lady nodded. "Indeed."

"Did she tell me the wrong time?"

". . . Colette asked me to give you this letter," Frank spoke up, an envelope held in his hand. He handed it to Lloyd for him to read.

He read it over once, and then again.

_Dear Lloyd,_

_By the time you read this, I will have already left on my journey. I'm sorry for lying to you. The world regeneration journey is full of peril – many Chosens have failed. I care about you too deeply to let you get involved. I'm going to do my best to stop the monsters and the Desians, so I want you to live a happy and peaceful life in the regenerated world. Thank you so much for your friendship and kindness all these years. I'm really lucky to have met you._

_Farewell,_

_- Colette_

Lloyd looked up from the letter.

". . . What is this? This almost sounds like a will."

Frank nodded. "Yes . . . you could call it that."

"What do you mean?" Genis asked worriedly.

"Lloyd, Genis . . ." Frank began, his voice low and serious. "There is something we hid from you and everyone in the village." He swallowed. "Colette . . . no, the Chosen . . . is already-"

There was a violent trembling in the ground, cutting Frank off before he could finish.

"Whoa!" Genis exclaimed.

They could hear strange noises from outside.

"What was that?" Lloyd asked.

When Lloyd and Genis went outside, they found Iselia, the Village of Oracles, in flames.


	4. The Massacre

Hey everyone,

Another bit of a shorty, I guess :P They're probably going to stay in the 2-4 thousand word range, unless it's a super-duper important chapter. Anyway, enjoy, and please R&R! :D

-Uzuki Cheverie

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 4: The Massacre**

Iselia was in flames. Houses were being burned, and people were being attacked by the Desians. Everything was being destroyed.

Lloyd and Genis rushed over to one of the houses, where two Desians were watching a house burn to the ground, wide smiles on their faces – they were actually being _entertained_ by the sight of the house being destroyed.

"Hahahaha!" one of the Desians laughed; he had a whip in his hand. "Burn! Burn!"

The other Desian spotted Lloyd and Genis standing just a few meters away.

"Look!" he shouted. "More survivors!"

Lloyd and Genis drew their weapons, ready for battle.

"Kill them!" the first Desian laughed out loud. "Kill all the miserable worms!"

"You'll pay for this!" Lloyd screamed as he charged at the Desians with his swords. It only took him and Genis a few minutes to take the two of them out.

Lloyd and Genis moved on after those two, heading in the direction of the school. Two more Desians were there, cornering a man who seemed to be protecting the building.

"G-Get back!" the man yelled, his face stained with fear.

The two Desians approached him with their weapons.

"Lloyd, we have to save him!" Genis yelled.

Lloyd nodded and charged for them, his swords still drawn.

"Stop!" Lloyd yelled at the two soldiers, and took them out immediately with his swords.

The man looked completely relieved and a bit more at peace. "Thank you. You saved me. I couldn't protect this place by myself."

"Is everyone inside the school?" Lloyd asked.

"No, there should still be some people in the village plaza," the man replied.

"Lloyd, let's go save them," Genis urged.

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed.

"Wait," the man stopped them. "This is my thanks for saving me. Please, take them." He handed Lloyd and Genis some healing supplies as thanks.

"Thank you," Lloyd said.

"Please help them," the man begged.

Lloyd nodded, and turned around to head towards the village plaza where the rest of the village was waiting, Genis following close behind.

Genis stopped when he saw his house.

"Our . . . our house!" he exclaimed. It was in flames, and had already been destroyed enough that the wooden beams were collapsing from the outside.

"Damn those Desians!" Lloyd swore under his breath.

"This is horrible . . ." Genis cried. "What am I going to tell Raine when she gets back? And this village looked like it might finally be a place we could have called home . . ."

Lloyd stared at him. "Huh? What did you say?"

"N-Nothing!" Genis stammered innocently. "Let's hurry up and get rid of the Desians!"

"Yeah. We're not going to let them do any more damage," Lloyd agreed, clenching his hand into a tight fist.

The two boys proceeded to the next area of the village where the plaza was. The Desians were surrounding everybody in the center of the village. Even the mayor was there.

A Desian captain stepped forward. "Lloyd Irving! Come forth!" he commanded in a loud, authoritative voice.

Lloyd didn't hesitate to walk forward. "You've come to attack the village again?" he yelled. "I've had enough of this!"

The Desian soldier looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

A man with light teal-colored hair and a robotic arm walked forward, past his soldier.

"He speaks nonsense. Ignore him," the man growled. He glared at the villagers with his cold, merciless eyes.

"Listen up, inferior beings!" he began. "I am Forcystus, one of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals. I am a superior half-elf who rules over the farm where we cultivate you pathetic humans.

". . . Half-elf . . ." Genis hissed under his breath as he stared at the man.

The man looked directly at Lloyd. "Lloyd! You, a human, have been found guilty for the crime of violating the non-aggression treaty. Therefore, I bring judgement upon you and this village!"

Genis stepped forward to object. "You violated the treaty, too! You tried to murder the Chosen!"

Forcystus and his fellow Desian captain looked at each other with confused glares.

"Us, kill the Chosen?" the captain scoffed. "Hahaha! I see now. _They _must be after the Chosen."

"They?" Lloyd asked. "Are you saying you aren't the ones that attacked Colette?"

Forcystus scowled. "I have no need to explain myself to the likes of you. The only thing that matters is that you, Lloyd Irving, have been in contact with host body F-192, and attacked our guards."

The mayor ran forward to go to Lloyd.

"What have you done?" he yelled in Lloyd's face. "How many times have we told you to stay away from the ranch?"

Lloyd hung his head in shame. ". . . I'm sorry."

Forcystus spoke again. "We've prepared an appropriate opponent for your crime."

The Desians all stepped off to the side to make room for the giant, green, lumbering monster that was approaching the boys. It was tall, with arms that hung so low that its hands hit the ground, and it had only one eye glowing near the center of its face. It was wearing grey rags over its deformed body.

". . . What is that thing?" Lloyd gasped as he stared at the monstrous beast that was getting closer and closer to them.

"Now, receive your punishment!" Forcystus hissed, sending the monster in to attack them.

The monster brought one of its huge hands up, its claws very visible in the air, and brought its hand back down to strike. Lloyd blocked it with his hands, but the strike knocked the mayor of Iselia to the ground. Lloyd didn't know how he was going to be able to fight this thing.

"Damn!" Lloyd hissed.

"Lloyd, I'll help, too!" Genis said, walking up next to him with his kendama in hand.

The two boys began to battle the deformed demon. It was a strange monster indeed, unlike anything Lloyd had ever seen – it had to have been made in the human ranch somehow, otherwise he would have seen one already during his many trips through the Iselia Forest.

They fought for what felt like a very long time, Lloyd using his swords to strike and block the monster's roundhouse attacks, and Genis throwing fireballs at it with his magic power. Thankfully, the monster was slow, but its attacks covered a lot of area with its oversized arms, so Lloyd had to be weary of that.

Lloyd brought the sword down on the beast's head, delivering the final blow. The beast fell to its knees, clutching its head with its clawed hands.

The Desian captain was shocked, and stared at Lloyd as he walked away from the beast.

"Lord Forcystus! Just as you thought, that boy has an Exsphere!"

". . . It must be the one from the Angelus Project that we've been searching for!" Forcystus gasped. He approached Lloyd, eyeing the glowing jewel on the boy's hand. "Give it to me!"

"No!" Lloyd refused. "This is a memento of my mom's, who you Desians murdered!"

"What are you talking about? Your mother was . . ."

Suddenly, the beast got up to its feet, and grabbed Forcystus from the backside, wrapping its arms around his neck and keeping him held back from Lloyd. Genis and Lloyd could hear a familiar voice radiating through the air around them; it was coming from the monster.

"_Run . . . away . . . Genis, Lloyd . . ."_

"Wh-What was that voice?" Genis stammered as he stared at the monster. "It . . . sounded like . . . Marble . . ."

"It can't be!" Lloyd hissed.

"_Uh . . . get away . . . hurry . . . ! _The beast suddenly calmed down a bit more, but kept Forcystus restrained. It stared at Genis in almost a caring sort of way. _Genis . . . you were like . . . a grandson to me . . . thank you . . . goodbye . . ."_

Suddenly, the monster's body exploded like a bomb, the explosion enveloping Forcystus' body like a shroud. After the smoke cleared, all that was left was Forcystus and a lone Exsphere, which had bounced over to Genis' feet. Genis picked it up to examine it.

Forcystus fell to his knees in pain. "Ugh . . . !"

"No! Protect Lord Forcystus!" the captain ordered. Several of the Desians surrounded Forcystus to aid him.

"Lloyd . . ." Forcystus scoffed, his voice frail from his wounds. "We will always come after you as long as you possess that Exsphere . . . Always!"

Genis stared at Marble's Exsphere laying in his hand. "M-Marble! Marble! No!" he screamed, clenching the stone in his hand.

The Desians soon fled from the village, taking the wounded Forcystus with them.

The mayor immediately approached Lloyd after they were gone, his face flushed with anger.

"What have you done?" the mayor hissed at Lloyd. "Look! Look what happened to our village! It's all your fault!"

Lloyd looked around at the burning houses and the people that had lost their homes.

"I'm sorry . . ." he whispered; it was all he could say at the moment.

"You think you can fix this by apologizing? The Desians marked you as their enemy! As long as you are here, this village will never be at peace." He gave Lloyd a serious look. "Do you understand?"

Genis rushed in front of Lloyd, spreading out his arms to block him from the mayor.

"Wait a minute! You're going to exile him?" Genis exclaimed.

"Yes," the mayor replied.

"That's not fair! Lloyd didn't do anything wrong! He just saved Marble . . . !"

"Any involvement with the ranch is forbidden. There are no exceptions."

Genis looked at him in disgust. "So it's okay to let people die at the human ranch as long as the village is safe?"

One of the female villagers in the crowd spoke up. "The people at the ranch are just going to rot there, anyway," she sneered.

"Yes," the mayor agreed. "Had you not done something so stupid, they'd have been the only ones that died."

Genis lowered his face, and whispered under his breath, "You humans are all the same."

Lloyd placed a gentle hand on Genis' shoulder. "That's enough, Genis," he told him. "This was my fault." Lloyd approached the mayor without fear. ". . . I'll leave."

Another female villager spoke up. "Mayor, surely you don't have to be so strict on a child . . ."

A different villager gave the woman a look of disapproval. "What are you saying? Do you realize how many people died here because of him?"

Genis approached the mayor with the same straight face as Lloyd.

"It's not Lloyd's fault!" he yelled. "I'm the one that took him to the ranch. So it's _my_ fault!"

"But it's Lloyd the Desians are after," the mayor objected. "And besides, Lloyd isn't from this village to begin with. He's an outsider, raised by a dwarf."

"Then I'm leaving too," Genis growled. "I'm just as guilty as he is!"

"Genis . . ." Lloyd said in a low voice.

The mayor thought over his decision for a moment.

"Fine then. By the rights vested in me as mayor, I hereby announce the banishment of Lloyd and Genis from the village of Iselia."

"Get out!"

* * *

After all the villagers had left, Lloyd walked shamefully to Colette's grandmother, Phaidra.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble . . ." he sighed.

"If you feel that way, please catch up to the Chosen and protect her," Phaidra told him. "If in doing so, the world is saved. Surely everyone will change their minds about you."

"For I'm sure Colette would want that as well," Frank added.

". . . Yes," Lloyd said. "I will atone for what I've done. I swear to protect Colette for the sake of those who have died because of me."

"I'll follow you, Lloyd," Genis said. "It's my fault you were banished. So I promise to stick by you, always."

Lloyd looked at the Exsphere in Genis' hand. "Say, Genis . . . why don't you use that Exsphere? That's Marble's memento."

Genis stared at the glowing stone. ". . . Okay."

"I'll explain to you on how to use the Key Crest later. After all, it looks like it's going to be a long journey."

"Yeah . . ."

Lloyd and Genis walked together towards the exit of the burning village, where Noishe was waiting for them.

"Let's go, Noishe . . ." Lloyd said sadly.

"Don't throw your lives away," Phaidra said sadly.

Frank nodded. "May the Goddess Martel protect you."

Lloyd smiled at them both, and then took one last look at the burning remains of what used to be his home.

* * *

Lloyd and Genis walked through the green fields of Sylvarant, Noishe following close behind them. The sun was shining, and the sky had finally turned blue again after getting out of the area that had been cursed with clouds of ash and fire back at the village. Butterflies were fluttering out and about, and there were other travellers walking the fields as well, bags slung on their backs and weapons held nearby on their belts; most of them were out on pilgrimages.

Noishe ran up behind Lloyd, something gripped in his teeth.

"Hmm? What is it?" Lloyd asked his pet. "What's that in your mouth?"

"Look, your bag's open," Genis pointed out. "You probably dropped it yourself."

"Oh," Lloyd muttered as he looked at his bag and tied it closed again. "Thanks, Noishe," he said, taking the envelope from his dog's mouth. "Let's see . . ."

He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter that was inside. He examined the messy handwriting.

"It's . . . a letter from Dad," Lloyd said.

"From Dirk?"

"Yeah. I wonder what's written in it." He read it to himself, trying to make out his father's quickly-scrawled words.

_Dear Lloyd, _

_Did you read the Traveler's Guide? It has the seven most well-known Dwarven Vows as well as knowledge necessary for your journey written in it. Make use of this information and be sure to protect Colette. _

_Fourteen years have passed since I found you and started raising you. I remember how you were scared of me and always crying. And now, you've grown into a strong swordsman. I'm grateful for you calling me, a non-human, your father. Someday, when you are a full-grown man, I'll have a gift for you. Keep that in mind as something to look forward to as you go out there and fight._

Lloyd finished reading the letter.

". . . Signed, Dad."


	5. The Sylvarant Base

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 5: The Sylvarant Base**

After visiting the nearby House of Salvation to rest, Lloyd and Genis continued their walk across the land of Sylvarant. Soon, the grass disappeared, and the boys found themselves trudging through thick, heavy layers of sand, the sun burning down on them from above. They were both tired, and couldn't wait to get to the next town so they could sleep.

"I wonder where Colette and the others are," Lloyd pondered as they walked through the sand.

"The Triet Desert covers a vast area, so it's not going to be very easy to find her," Genis said.

"They probably stopped by the city, right?"

"Yeah," Genis agreed. "I hope we can find out something there."

Lloyd sighed. "It'd be nice if Colette left behind some sort of evidence that she was there."

"Like the wall at school," Genis snickered.

"Heh, I doubt that'll happen again," Lloyd laughed.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

* * *

Lloyd and Genis couldn't believe it. There, in the wall of a nearby stone building, was a hole shaped like Colette's body.

"Isn't this amazing?" the woman near it said. "It's a hole shaped just like the Chosen of Regeneration! This is going to be Triet's newest tourist hotspot!"

"Wow . . ." Lloyd muttered. "What a klutz."

When Lloyd and Genis returned to the central area of Triet, they almost ran into a few Desians, but hid before they were seen.

"This is an order from Lord Forcystus!" the Desian in charge shouted to the others. "A human named Lloyd is on the run with an Exsphere. His identification code is unknown. Form a cordon in all areas immediately!"

"What does this Lloyd look like?" one of the other Desians asked.

"His likeness and description are on the wanted posters. We're counting on you."

"Yes, sir!" they all shouted at once, and scattered to different areas of the city. The one in charge put up the so-called wanted poster on the wall of a nearby inn.

"Man . . ." Lloyd groaned. "Wanted posters and search parties – they're really serious."

"We need to hurry and find Colette," Genis urged him.

"Hey, I thought we were looking for Colette to protect her," Lloyd said. "This is more like we're looking for her to get help."

"Does it really matter why we're looking for her? You think too much when you don't have to!"

Lloyd and Genis continued forward through the town, weary of the presence of the Desians, and went to examine the wanted poster on the wall.

"Is this the wanted poster?" Genis asked as they observed the horribly-drawn mug shot of Lloyd. It made his head look fat, and he had a stupid look on his face.

Lloyd felt extremely offended. ". . . Am I _this_ ugly?"

"It's good," Genis said nervously. "They'll never find you with this . . . I think."

Lloyd and Genis went on their way through town, the picture of the wanted poster still on Lloyd's mind.

"What's with that illustration?" Lloyd complained as they walked through town. "They've ruined my handsome face!"

"Really? I think it looks a lot like you," Genis laughed.

"Oh, really . . . _thanks_ for your opinion, Genis."

Genis rolls his eyes. "I . . . I was just kidding."

While they were walking, Lloyd stumbled upon a customization shop. After trading the things he had found battling monsters, he got his hands on some real swords – real, damage-causing, metal swords. Now, he felt he could actually defend himself.

The boys eventually made it to a tent. When they went inside, they found a fortune teller, a glowing glass ball sitting in front of her on a small table.

"Welcome to the House of Fortune," the woman greeted them, her voice exotic and mysterious. "What would you like me to divine for you?"

"Well, I'd like to know where Colette . . ." Lloyd tried to correct himself. ". . . where the _Chosen_ is now."

The fortune teller stopped to think for a few moments.

"Understood," she finally said. "That will be one hundred Gald."

"That's expensive!" Lloyd exclaimed.

". . . Did you say something?" the woman asked in a sassy kind of way.

"Ah, n . . . no, I . . ." Lloyd sighed in defeat and grabbed the correct amount of Gald from his bag, giving it to the woman.

The fortune teller stared into her glass ball with much excitement in her eyes.

"Mmm . . . I can see her!" the woman gasped. "The Chosen is heading for the oasis that is said to have been destroyed when Efreet went out of control."

". . . Is that true?" Genis asked cautiously.

The fortune teller smiled. "The Chosen's companion said so, so there's no doubt."

Lloyd suddenly felt like he had been cheated out of his money. But he didn't say anything, and left the tent with Genis. They walked back to the central area of the city, and then headed for the exit, ready to head to the next spot to find Colette.

Just as they were about to leave, a voice called out to them.

"Wait!"

When they turned around, they saw three Desian soldiers, one of them with a wanted poster in his hand.

"Doesn't he look like the guy in the wanted poster?" one of them asked another one.

"Let's see . . ." the other Desian said, looking at the poster in his hand. "Yeah, he looks just like it!"

"Good for you, Lloyd," Genis muttered to Lloyd. "They say you're good looking."

"Do I really look that bad?" Lloyd whispered.

"You must be Lloyd!" the first soldier shouted.

". . . Yeah, that's right," Lloyd said.

Genis gave him a look of surprise. "Hey, what about your usual, 'Who are you to ask for my name' thing?"

"I'm not gonna even bother," Lloyd groaned.

The Desian with the wanted poster laughed. "Heheh . . . I guess you can't run away with a poster of your face everywhere!"

Lloyd glared at him. ". . . You're really starting to piss me off!"

The first soldier pulled out his whip. "Get him!"

The Desians ran at Lloyd with their crossbows and whips, and Lloyd and Genis ran at them with their swords and kendama. With his new swords, Lloyd was able to do a lot more damage to the Desians, so much that the battle actually ended quicker than usual.

"Heh," Lloyd snickered. "All talk." He felt proud of himself for finally defeating someone with real swords.

"Lloyd, don't let your guard down, or you'll regret it," Genis warned him.

"I'm not letting my guard down," Lloyd argued. "It's just that they were so pitiful . . ."

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a condensed ball of electricity struck Lloyd right in his back, shocking him all throughout his body.

"Whoa!" Lloyd exclaimed as the electricity surged through his body. Before he could do anything to defend himself, the electricity knocked him out, his body collapsing to the ground.

"Lloyd!" Genis yelled, running to his aid. Lloyd didn't move.

Two more Desians appeared. They stared at Lloyd, and then at Genis, who was terrified out of his mind.

"I'm . . . scared!" Genis cried. "Please don't hurt me . . . I'll be good!"

The soldiers grabbed Lloyd, and Genis followed close behind them as they walked through the desert to some kind of base far from Triet.

"I've brought Lloyd," the Desian said to another Desian who was waiting at the base's entrance.

"Who is that child?" the Desian asked as he stared at Genis.

"His friend, apparently," the Desian replied. "What should we do with him?"

"The leader only wants Lloyd. I don't see any need to bring this one along."

"Understood."

The soldier took Lloyd inside the base, leaving Genis behind outside of the base.

". . . What's going to happen to me?" Genis asked, his voice quivering with fear. "Lloyd forced me to come here . . . I didn't want to . . ." He suddenly burst into tears.

The Desian couldn't take all his crying. "Alright, alright!" he groaned. "As a fellow kinsman, we'll let you go. Now get out of here!"

Genis stopped crying.

"Are you sure that's alright?" the other Desian by the door asked him.

"What can a kid do?" the Desian sneered.

Genis turned around to leave, but then looked at them with a smile.

"Thank you for freeing me!" he said happily. "I'll never forget this. Goodbye, mister."

"Just get out of here!" the second Desian shouted at him.

Genis ran off from the base. After making it out of the main area of the Sylvarant Base, he bumped into Lloyd's dog, Noishe.

"Noishe!" he exclaimed. "You followed us! Okay, let's save Lloyd together!"

* * *

". . . Uh . . . ow! Where am I?"

Lloyd looked around, and saw that he was trapped in some kind of prison cell. He looked through the bars to see two Desians talking to each other.

". . . If so, I feel sorry for that Lloyd kid," the first one said.

"Yeah," the second one agreed. "He can't possibly escape execution."

". . . Execution?" Lloyd exclaimed to himself. "What the hell?"

A third Desian showed up to speak to the other two.

"Hey, Lord Botta's calling you," he said to them.

"Gotcha," the other Desian said, and the two Desians left, leaving the one that had just arrived to guard the prison cells, including Lloyd.

"Dammit," Lloyd hissed. "They took my equipment, and I can't open the door with the guard there." He looked down at his hand, and noticed he was still wearing the Sorcerer's Ring on his finger. "The only thing I have on me is the Sorcerer's Ring . . . if I can hit the guard with this . . ."

Lloyd readied the ring and stuck his fist through the bars of the prison cell. When the guard walked by again, he shot a small ball of fire at him. The fire hit him in the side. The Desian screamed in pain and ran off to find something to heal himself with.

Lloyd smiled in victory and used his lock-picking skills to open the cell door. He started to dig around the large room a bit, and eventually found his equipment in the corner of the room. He tied his sheaths to his waist again, suddenly feeling a bit more comfortable with everything; now he knew he had a way to defend himself if anything bad happened.

Of course, Lloyd had no clue where he was, and he knew he'd have to find a way out soon, so he began to look for an exit.

He turned down one corridor, but he immediately regretted it when he ran into two Desian soldiers.

"Who the hell are you?" the first one yelled.

"Uh-oh . . ."

The second guard pulled out his sword. "P-Prison break!"

Lloyd had no choice. He pulled out his swords and took out the two guards. The moment Lloyd put their swords back into their sheaths, an alarm went off. With panic rising in his chest, Lloyd took off for the next room, hoping it would lead to an exit.

The next room was very open, with only two doors – the one he came through and another one off to the left – and a strange platform sitting in front of him.

"Hmm? What's this?" Lloyd asked himself. "Let's see . . ."

Before Lloyd could start investigating, though, the door to the left opened, and two more Desians walked through. Lloyd looked around for a hiding spot – he soon found one underneath the central mechanism in the room. He squeezed in, hoping that the Desians wouldn't see him.

"Where is he?" one of them shouted. "That kid in red disappeared!"

The two soldiers walked all around the room, trying to find Lloyd, completely oblivious to the fact that he was hiding right underneath them.

"He wasn't over there either," the second Desian said.

"That's strange," the first one mumbled. "How could we miss him when there's only one passage?"

The other Desian sighed, and shook his head. "Let's head back."

The soldiers went for the door, but it was locked.

"Oh, yeah," the Desian grumbled. "This room has a special mechanism."

The Desians went towards the two floating machines that were hovering around the room on patrol. They shocked them with some strange ball of electricity, and then pushed them over the blue panels that were lying on either side of the door.

"It's annoying to go through all the trouble of electrifying them and moving them over the panels just to open the door," the second Desian grumbled.

The other soldier nodded in agreement. "Lord Botta sure likes to do things the hard way . . ."

"Alright, let's go look for that kid in red."

The two soldiers ran through the door, out to look for Lloyd again. The moment they were through, the door closed and locked again.

"Red, red, red," Lloyd grumbled as he pulled himself back up onto the floor. "Does my outfit stand out that much? Sheesh."

Lloyd stared at the strange device in the center of the room. "Now, let's see . . . I should take a closer look at that thing."

Lloyd placed his hand on the machine; suddenly, a light burst from the machine and went straight into the gem on the Sorcerer's Ring. Lloyd jumped back in surprise. He looked at the ring.

_The Sorcerer's Ring is acting strange . . ._ he thought to himself.*

He tried it out, to make sure it still worked, but instead of releasing a fire ball, it released a ball of electricity.

_The fire changed into a ball of electricity . . . _

Lloyd looked at the robots that were patrolling the area, and remembered how the Desian soldiers had electrocuted them and pushed them over the panels.

_Maybe I can stop those weird machines with this . . . ? I guess I should check out any weird devices like this . . ._

Lloyd jumped out to grab the attention of one of the robots. It came floating over to him, its scope ready to fire. Waiting for the machine to cross the blue panel, Lloyd brought the ring up and zapped it, its body stopping completely as the electricity went through it. The blue panel lit up.

Lloyd did the same for the other machine, attracting its attention, waiting for it to be over the blue panel, and then zapping it with his new Sorcerer's Ring ability.

The door opened wide.

"Alright!" Lloyd cheered. "It opened!"

He continued on to the room, which had an even _weirder_ device sitting in the center. He had no clue what to make of it.**

Lloyd tried the other doors, but they were all locked.

"Doors in this room are locked too . . ." he mumbled to himself. "I guess I'll go look around."

Lloyd examined three strange pillars that were sitting at the back of the room. There was a gap in between them, so he couldn't reach them. He looked at his Sorcerer's Ring, and suddenly got an idea. He zapped one of the pillars, causing the weird device in the center to rotate. A green light turned on.

Lloyd tried the doors again, and this time, one of them was now unlocked. He continued through, now ending up in a hallway.

_Just what kind of technology are they using in this building?_ Lloyd thought to himself curiously as he looked around the hallway. _I've never seen anything like this before. Just who are these Desian guys?_

In his deep state of thought, Lloyd didn't notice the Desian that was standing in one of the hallways.

"Whoa!" he gasped, but it was too late; the soldier had already spotted him.

"Hey, you! What are you doing here?"

"Uh-oh!"

Lloyd ran off from the Desian, immediately locking his eyes onto a door that he hoped was unlocked. He reached for it and burst it open, charging straight into the room and closing the door afterwards. The room was very fancily decorated.

"Phew. That was close," Lloyd panted, trying to catch his breath from all the running. He didn't notice the very elegant-looking man standing just a few feet behind him. The man had blue hair that hung over his left eye, and wore very nice robes over his underclothes.

"And just who the hell are you?" the man snapped.

Lloyd spun around to see the man aiming a prepared ball of electricity straight at him.

Lloyd smirked playfully. "Give me your name, and I shall give you mine!"

"Hahahaha!" the man laughed. "You certainly have guts. But I'm afraid I don't see the need to introduce myself to a miserable little creature like you."

"What a coincidence," Lloyd said back, "because I don't see a need to introduce myself either to a moron who doesn't realize how pathetic he is."

The electricity suddenly disappeared from the now-angry man's hand.

"Why you little . . . !"

Lloyd brought his hands up to defend himself, but the man stopped when he saw the Exsphere embedded through his red glove.

"An Exsphere!" the man gasped. "You're . . . Lloyd?"

"And if I am?" Lloyd asked defensively.

The man walked towards Lloyd and observed his face.

"Hmm, I see the resemblance," he muttered.

Lloyd drew a single sword from his sheath, causing the man to back away. Suddenly, another alarm went off, and Botta – the same man that had attacked the Martel Temple – and two other soldiers arrived in the room.

"Sir!" Botta said to the blue-haired man. "We've received reports that the Chosen's group has infiltrated the facility!"

"You . . ." Lloyd hissed at Botta. "You're the Desian that attacked Iselia!"

"So you're Lloyd!" Botta said with a smile. "Now this is amusing!"

The strange man in robes stared at Botta. "Botta! I'm leaving for now. Our plans will be ruined if he sees me."

"What of the Chosen?" Botta asked.

"I'll leave that to you," the man muttered.

"Understood."

The man turned to Lloyd with a hostile look in his thin eyes. "Lloyd. The next time we meet, you're mine. Just you wait." Then he turned and left through another door.

Botta and the Desians surrounded Lloyd. As Lloyd was preparing to fight them, the rest of his friends showed up.

"Lloyd!" Genis exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Colette asked worriedly.

"He looks fine," Kratos grumbled.

Lloyd smiled at the three of them. "You guys all came for me?"

Botta took out his sword, a red blade that was curved like a hook, and had several jewels, including a large Exsphere, embedded in its metal.

"Perfect timing. I'll take care of everyone at once!" Botta yelled.

Lloyd, Kratos, Colette, and Genis all charged into battle against Botta and his two Desian henchmen. Lloyd, Genis, and Colette worked together to take out the two Desian soldiers first, and then they focused on Botta, who was fighting one-on-one with Kratos. Botta was definitely more challenging than anybody else they had ever fought – he was, after all, one of the leading soldiers here at the Desian base.

Lloyd, Colette, and Genis went to help Kratos fight against Botta, who also happened to know magic and was casting fire balls at Kratos from every direction. Genis put out Botta's fire balls with his own water magic, and Colette and Lloyd worked together to fight Botta while Kratos used his healing magic on them.

The fight was getting long, but the group knew they were close to taking Botta down. Suddenly, Kratos ran up to Botta with anger in his eyes, and brought his sword down on Botta's weapon. The weapon suddenly shattered.

"Ugh . . ." Botta choked. "I underestimated your abilities."

Botta dropped his destroyed weapon, and left the room, clutching his wounds.

The group turned to see Raine enter the room. She picked up the weapon and examined it.

"Isn't this a . . ." she began.

"Professor!" Lloyd exclaimed happily.

"Ah, Lloyd. Genis told me what happened." She glanced at her younger elven brother. "I apologize for the trouble he's caused you."

"No, I'm the one that dragged Genis into it," Lloyd objected. "I'm sorry."

"Save the chitchat for later," Kratos cut in. "We shouldn't stay here long."

"You're right," Raine agreed. "I opened the escape route just now. Let's go."

The group followed Raine to the escape route she opened, until they were back outside in the desert. Noishe was waiting outside for them.

"Noishe!" Lloyd said with a wide grin on his face. "You came, too?"

Raine stepped forward with Botta's weapon in her hands.

"I have a question. This crystalline object attached to this weapon . . . Is this one of the Exspheres that Genis spoke of?"

Kratos nodded. "It would seem so."

"Oh yeah, you use an Exsphere, too," Lloyd said to Kratos.

". . . So you noticed," Kratos mumbled.

"Well, duh," Lloyd said, giving him an annoyed look.

"What are they, exactly?" Raine asked curiously, wonder growing in her eyes.

"It will take a while to explain," Kratos said. "We can talk about it when we reach Triet."

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed. He patted his dog's head. "Okay, Noishe, let's go back now!"

Noishe howled in agreement.

After lots of trudging through the desert, the group soon made it back to Triet, tired and hungry.

"I'm so beat," Genis sighed. "I want to rest."

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. Let's head to the inn and then talk."

* * *

*These thoughts were actually spoken in the game, but it just seemed stupid to have him talking out loud like that, so I made them personal thoughts.

** The 'weird mechanism' in the game is actually a floating Gamecube that rotates when Lloyd hits the pillars to activate different rooms.


	6. The First Seal

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 6: The Beginning of the Quest - The First Seal  
**

It was night time at the inn, and everybody was gathered in a single room to talk about the Exspheres.

". . . In other words, these Exspheres are amplifiers that awaken our dormant capabilities," Raine said as she stared at the Exsphere laying in her hand. Her eyes light up in excitement and wonder. "I wonder if I could use one too?"

"That would be difficult," Kratos cut in. "Exspheres are harmful to the body without a Key Crest."

Colette stepped forward. "Um . . . can't we make a Key Crest?"

"As I told you before," Kratos began, "a Key Crest is made by processing inhibitor ore, then engraving it with a crest to control the Exsphere attached to its surface. It is said to be a secret art known only to the dwarves."

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed with Kratos' explanation. "I can engrave that charm . . . er, crest, but only my dad can process the ore."

"Well, is there any inhibitor ore among these materials?" Raine asked as she dumped a pile of strange objects onto the floor. She began to dig through the items, checking for anything that looked like ore.

"Raine! Did you bring these from our house?" Genis asked. He had figured they had lost everything in the fire at Iselia.

"Of course. They're valuable research materials," Raine chuckled. She pointed to several objects, explaining each one and their origins. "This is a holy vase from the Balacruf Mausoleum. This is a jewelled sword from the Martel Temple. This is a priest's crown from the Asgard Ruins. This is yellow ore from the Hima mines . . ."

Lloyd glared at her. "What the? . . . It's all junk!"

Raine jumped up to her feet and approached Lloyd with fiery anger in her eyes.

"What did you just say?" she snapped.

While the Professor and Lloyd were arguing, a strange item caught Kratos' eye.

"Hmm?" he mumbled as he picked it up. "This is . . ."

Kratos: Hmm? This is…

Raine turned her attention to Kratos and the object in his hand.

"Ah, I picked that up in front of the human ranch," she answered. "It was engraved with angelic language, so I took it home."

"Professor!" Lloyd exclaimed as he looked at the object. "This is a Key Crest!"

"The crest is half worn off," Kratos observed. "It's unusable like this."

Lloyd took the Key Crest in his hands.

". . . I can fix that," Lloyd said. "Don't worry, Professor, you'll be able to equip that Exsphere tomorrow."

"Really?" Raine said happily. "Thank you, Lloyd! I'm sorry to make you go through the trouble, but I appreciate it."

* * *

Lloyd finished up the last few touches of the Key Crest, Kratos sitting a few feet away on his own bed. The two of them were sharing a room, and he knew that Raine and Genis were also sharing a room. In fact, Colette was the only one – being the Chosen of Regeneration – who had gotten her own room to herself.

"Okay, it's done . . ." Lloyd sighed. "I'll go give it to the Professor," he said to Kratos before getting up to head for the elves' room.

Lloyd left the room and went to the first door he saw. When he entered, he realized he was in Colette's room, not the Sages'.

_This is Colette's room_ . . . Lloyd thought. He walked over to the bed where she was sleeping.

"Are you asleep?" he asked her. She didn't respond, so he turned around to leave.

He was just about to put his hand on the doorknob when Colette spoke.

"Lloyd . . ." she said, sitting up in her bed.

"Huh?"

Colette let out a sad sigh. ". . . I'm sorry that Father, Grandmother, and I couldn't prevent your exile."

"You dork," Lloyd laughed. "It's not your fault, so you don't need to worry about it. And besides, I'm the reason why the village was devastated."

Colette got up from the bed and approached him.

"For Marble's sake, and for the sake of the villagers that were killed, I'm going to do my best to regenerate the world."

"Yeah . . . I'm sorry I woke you."

"No, it's okay," Colette said. "Good night."

Lloyd smiled. "Thanks."

Lloyd turned and left Colette to sleep, heading over to the next room he was certain belonged to Genis and Raine.

* * *

Colette stood in her room sadly, staring at the floorboards. She smiled, but her eyes were filled with sadness.

". . . I'm going to do my best for you, too, Lloyd."

* * *

Lloyd stepped inside the elves' room. Raine seemed to be working on something, and Genis was asleep.

"Professor, you're still awake?" Lloyd asked her from where she was sitting at her desk.

Raine turned her attention from her papers to Lloyd. "Yes, I've been organizing the data we've collected about monsters. And what are you doing up at this hour?"

". . . I was fixing your Key Crest."

"Thank you, but you musn't overexert yourself," Raine said. "It's going to be a long journey after all. I don't mind if it takes a while to fix."

". . . So are you saying that it's okay for Genis and me to come along on this journey?" Lloyd asked hesitantly.

"Wasn't that your intent from the beginning?" Raine chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "Stop pretending."

Lloyd blushed in embarrassment. "Hehehe . . ." He noticed the Key Crest that was still clutched in his hand. "Oh yeah, I fixed the Key Crest, so here, take it." He handed it to her.

"You fixed it already?" Raine asked in surprise. "Thank you, Lloyd!" She stared at the glowing jewel. "So this is an Exsphere!"

"Ask Genis to show you how to use it."

Raine smiled at him, and then sat back down at her desk to continue her work. Lloyd was about to leave, but then he noticed the sleeping Genis, who was snoring quite loudly.

"That's some impressive snoring," Lloyd muttered as he walked over to the bedside. With a devious smile on his face, Lloyd reached over and pinched the boy's nose.

"Zz . . . nnguh!" Genis suddenly shook his head to shake away whatever it was that was bothering him, which caught Lloyd off-guard.

"Whoa!"

"Silly boys . . ." Raine laughed to herself.

Lloyd was about to leave again, but then he remembered one more important thing. He had to apologize.

"Professor, I'm sorry," he said.

"About what?" Raine asked.

Lloyd looked at Genis, who had peacefully returned to sleep.

"I dragged Genis into this."

"Oh . . . that."

Lloyd shook his head in regret. "Things wound up like this because I tried to save someone from the ranch without thinking things through."

". . . Do you regret what you've done?" Raine asked.

"I don't know," Lloyd sighed. "I just couldn't ignore someone suffering right before my eyes . . ."

"What you did was morally correct," Raine began, "but against the law. You can't change what's already happened. But you can change what's going to happen . . . change yourself as well as the world around you."

Lloyd nodded, and headed for the door. "Well, I'm gonna go now. Good night, Professor."

"Thank you, Lloyd. Sleep well."

Lloyd smiled, and then left the room.

* * *

Her eyes widened and sparkling bright with curiosity, Raine snickered to herself as she looked at the glowing jewel in her hand.

"Hehehehehehehehe!" she snickered. "So this is an Exsphere! MARVELOUS!"

* * *

When Lloyd stepped out of Raine and Genis' room, he heard the sound of a door closing, and then he watched as Kratos appeared downstairs and walked out the front door.

_Where's he going at this hour? _Lloyd thought, and he decided to follow him.

Lloyd crept outside of the inn, and snuck over to where Kratos was examining Noishe, who had been locked up inside the stable just outside of the inn. He appeared to be talking to the animal. Lloyd was about to tap Kratos' shoulder to ask him what was going on, but he suddenly reared around with his sword and held it to Lloyd's throat before he can say a single word.

"Whoa!" Lloyd screamed.

Kratos stopped, and put the sword back into his sheath.

"Lloyd . . ." he grumbled. "I'm sorry to have startled you."

Lloyd swallowed. "Startled isn't the word for it!" he said, his voice quivering with an edge of surprise and fear.

"You'd best not stand behind me."

"I won't . . ." Lloyd muttered.

Lloyd walked up to Kratos' side to look at Noishe with him.

"Do you like animals?" Lloyd asked.

As usual, Kratos didn't show much of a reaction. "No, not particularly . . ."

" . . . Well, Noishe seems to be quite comfortable with you. He usually doesn't like strangers."

Kratos pet Noishe's head. "I once had a pet, long ago."

"Really?" Lloyd asked in surprise.

Kratos ignored him, and stared straight at him.

"Lloyd."

"Wh . . . What?" Lloyd said nervously. "What are you staring at me like that for?"

Kratos scowled. "Your swordsmanship is unrefined. You should focus a little more on eliminating your vulnerabilities."

As he began to walk away, he growled under his breath,

"If you care about your life."

Lloyd was irritated, and waited until Kratos was gone to unleash his rage.

"Just because he's a little better than me, he has to talk like he knows everything!" he hissed. ". . . Well . . . a _lot_ better than me. Damn!"

* * *

When morning arrived, Lloyd left the inn, and found the rest of the group waiting outside. Besides Colette, they all seemed irritated at his late waking.

"We can finally head out to release the seal," Kratos said.

"Yes. I'll do my best!" Colette replied with determination in her voice.

"The seal Remiel spoke of is in the Triet Ruins southwest of here," Raine told them.

"Cool!" Lloyd exclaimed. "Let's go check out that seal!"

Genis rubbed his forehead. "We'll see if that enthusiasm lasts . . ."

"I'll be fine! Just you watch!"

Raine's eyes lit up, as if she had forgotten something and had just remembered it. She walked to Lloyd with a book in her hand.

"Oh, I just remembered. Let me give you this," she said, handing Lloyd the book. Most of it was empty, except for the parts Raine had filled in. It was the Monster List she had been working on the night before when Lloyd gave her the Exsphere.

"Gathering data on your enemies is useful for protecting the Chosen," she said.

Lloyd's face filled with joy. "I . . . I'm going to do it?"

"I'll help, too," Raine said with a smile. "Just think of it as homework."

"Ewww . . ."

Kratos turned to head towards the exit. "We should get going."

The group of five set out, heading back into the vast desert. It was very windy outside, and the sand blew all over the place, forcing the group to cover their faces with the collars of their shirts to prevent the sand from getting into their eyes.

"Say, Colette," Genis began after catching up with the Chosen.

"Uh-huh?"

"How did you make that hole in the wall at Triet?"

Lloyd nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that, too."

"Um, well," Colette stammered, trying to think over her words. "See, what happened was fans of the Professor were chasing her around, see?"

"And?" Lloyd urged her.

"Then, Kratos chased them away from her."

Genis nodded. "Uh-huh, and?"

Colette's face turned red. "I tripped and smashed into the wall."

"I see," Lloyd muttered, trying not to laugh so that he wouldn't hurt her feelings. "Sounds like you had a rough time."

"Hehehe," Colette giggled. "But don't worry, I'm fine!"

Genis stared at her wide-eyed. " . . . I don't understand."

They continued to walk through the desert, when Noishe came up to Lloyd and whined for his attention. Lloyd immediately understood. He went over to Kratos with a worried look.

". . . What's wrong?" Kratos asked suspiciously.

"Noishe is worried about you because you haven't drank any water at all," Lloyd said.

"I'm fine," Kratos grumbled. "Give priority on the water to Genis and the Chosen."

"I just had a lot earlier," Colette said.

"I drank plenty, too," Genis agreed.

"There you go," Lloyd sighed. "Noishe is worried about you. Stop being so tough and drink a little." He pushed the flask of water at him.

"Humph . . . alright," Kratos growled, and took the flask, taking a brief drink of water from it.

After a lot more walking through the sand, they eventually made it to the Triet Ruins. Just as the name implied, the place looked like a bunch of stone ruins scattered around in the sand.

Lloyd sighed, and hung his head down low.

"Ah, so hot . . . man, I'm beat."

"See?" Genis sneered. "You're already worn out."

Raine looked around the area. "Hmm, what happened to Noishe?"

Lloyd began to look around as well, but he couldn't find his pet dog.

"You're right, he's gone. Ah, man, he's run off again!"

"He's probably nervous about the monsters," Kratos said. "I think it would be best not to count on Noishe in places with monsters around."

Lloyd and the group walked towards the stone altar. Other than the altar, everything else in the area was just stone pillars and blocks. Colette observed the altar, and immediately recognized the symbol etched in the stone.

"Say, is this the seal?" Colette asked. "It has my family's crest on it . . ."

Raine's eyes lit up with joy and excitement. "Fantastic!"

The group watched as Raine stared at the stone slab in the center of the platform that was sunk into the ground.

"Look at this slab covering the entrance!" Raine gasped as she got down to her knees to feel the stone surface. "It's clearly of a different composition than the surrounding stone!"

Her face lit up even more. "Hahahaha! It's just as I thought! This is polycarbonate, developed during the Ancient War to defend against magic! Oh, feel the smooth surface! It's wondrous!"

Kratos glanced at Genis. " . . . Is she always like this?" he muttered.

Lloyd stared at Raine as she ran all around the altar to examine it. Then he looked at Genis as well with the same look.

". . . Is she?"

Genis sighed in defeat. " . . . I've been trying so hard to hide it, too . . ."

Raine read the words that were carved into a part of the stone.

"Hmm? This depression . . . it reads, 'oracle stone'." She turned to Colette. "Colette, place your hand here. That should reveal the entrance."

"Really?" Lloyd asked; he was curious as to how it really worked.

Raine nodded. "This stone is enchanted with magic designed to identify the Chosen. There's no question about it."

Colette stepped forward and placed her hand against the stone. Suddenly, the slab that Raine had been observing earlier slid over, revealing a secret stairway that lead underground.

"It opened!" Colette cheered. "Wow! I guess I'm really the Chosen after all!"

"Yes, I think we all know that already," Genis grumbled.

"Okay! Now it's getting exciting!" Lloyd said happily, his face lighting up. "Let's hurry up and go inside!"

Lloyd: Okay! Not it's getting exciting! Let's hurry up and go inside!

"I hope you'll be able to maintain that enthusiasm," Kratos said in a low voice.

* * *

When they made it inside the ruins, they were amazed to see that the place was a lot more complex than they had originally thought. The walls were built with a strange kind of stone, and there were monsters everywhere. The place was also very hot, and it seemed that the floors were built on top of a layer of lava.

The group was faced with a challenge the moment they entered. They couldn't just head to the seal the way they had originally thought, because all of the floors seemed to have been raised or lowered in certain places. It seemed the only way to fix the floors was to light the unlit torches with the flame from the Sorcerer's Ring.

It took some tricky maneuvers and a bit of time, but they finally got all the floors to line up right. They climbed up the floor levels until they made it to the teleporter that lead them to the last room.

The group walked slowly towards the altar at the back of the room.

"This place is also built with magitechnology!" Raine gasped in joy. "Absolutely fantastic!"

When the group was in front of the altar, mana began to seep out of its center. Lloyd didn't notice it much, but Genis and Raine could feel it changing rapidly in the air.

"Ahh!" Genis yelled out loud. "What the?"

Suddenly, a giant cougar-like creature appeared from the seal, along with two floating creatures that resembled dinosaurs. Raine immediately recognized it as Ktugach, the guardian of the Fire Seal. It was a ferocious beast that was cloaked in flames and summoned fire magic to strike the group. It also had very long fangs in its mouth and claws in its feet. The monster was unlike anything they had ever fought before; the last time Lloyd had fought a grand monster like this was when he had taken down Marble's hideous form.

Genis was a valuable asset to this fight. Because of Ktugach and his Ktugachlings using fire magic in every direction, it gave him the upper advantage with his water magic. And with Raine, who specialized in healing magic, on their team, it made it much easier to stay in good health while fighting.

The group soon brought the monster down to its end, Lloyd dealing the final blow with a thrust of his blade into the monster's head. The monster died alongside its brethren, and eventually evaporated into the air.

Before the group could even think about catching their breath, a red light began to shine in the center of the altar. A few angel feathers fell from a bright light that continued to float above their heads.

"You, the Chosen of Regeneration," Remiel's voice came out from the light, his voice still as deep and godlike as before. "Offer your prayers at the altar."

". . . Yes, my lord," Colette replied, stepping forward to the altar. She got down to her knees and clasped her hands together.

"Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"

As the seal broke, Remiel appeared from the light.

"Colette, my dear daughter, you have done well," he said.

"Thank you . . ." Colette said slowly. "Fa-ther . . ."

"The guardian of the seal has fallen, and the first seal has been released. Efreet will surely awaken soon. In the name of Cruxis, I shall grant you the power of the angels."

"Thank you, my lord."

Several balls of light and energy flew out from Remiel, becoming absorbed into Colette's body. Then, from her backside, grew beautiful angel wings. Colette floated up from the ground so that she was face-to-face with her father.

"The angel transformation will not be without pain," Remiel warned her. "Yet, it is but for one night. Be strong, and endure."

"I humbly accept this trial."

"The next seal lies far to the east, across the sea. Offer your prayers in that distant land."

"Yes, Lord Remiel."

Remiel began to fly back up to the light above him, his angel wings leaving feathers behind him.

"I shall await you at the next seal, the Chosen of Regeneration, my beloved daughter, Colette."

Colette lowered herself to the floor, and smiled at her wings.

"Colette . . . has wings!" Lloyd gasped.

"Uh-huh," Colette giggled. "And look, I can put them away, too." She turned around, her back facing towards them, and put her wings away, their faint colors disappearing.

"Oh, wow!" Genis exclaimed. "That's so cool!"

"Here, look, look!" Colette laughed, pulling her wings out again and flapping them quickly for Genis to see.

Lloyd turned to Raine and Kratos. "He said the next place is across the sea! That means we get to sail on a ship! Haha! I can't wait!"

"A ship . . ." Raine pondered to herself. "Hmm . . . I wonder if there are any ships sailing with the way things are right now."

"We should head to the coast to see what we can find," Kratos suggested.

Lloyd turned his attention to Genis, who was still being entertained by Colette's new wings.

"Okay, you two, we get it already," Lloyd stopped them. "That's enough."

Genis and Colette both smiled at him.

"O-kay."

* * *

The group was exiting the underground section of the Triet Ruins when Colette suddenly fell to the ground.

"Colette!" Lloyd shouted, running to help her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm . . . fine . . ." Colette choked.

"You don't look fine at all!" Genis disagreed, staring at her face with a worried expression. "Your face is completely white! It's all my fault. I got carried away and kept making her pull her wings in and out."

"I don't think that has anything to do with it . . ." Lloyd muttered.

Raine examined Colette's face closely. "Now's not the time for that! Her lips are turning purple. We must get her to a doctor in the city immediately."

"Wait," Kratos stopped them. "It's best not to move her."

"Why?" Lloyd asked.

"Remember the angel's words. The angel transformation process requires her to overcome a trial. Rather than taking her to a doctor, it would be best to let her rest here."

"I'm . . . okay," Colette sighed. "I'll be fine after a little rest. I'm sorry to cause so much trouble . . ."

"Stop apologizing all the time, you dork!" Lloyd laughed. "It's not as if you can help it. You were suddenly turned into an angel."

Colette let out a sigh. "You're right . . . I'm sorry."

"Well, anyway," Lloyd grumbled. "Let's set up camp before it gets dark."

* * *

The group sat around the fire, the desert sand a little cooler now that it was night time. Colette still seemed sick, but she was resting all she could in her own blanket.

Kratos soon approached Lloyd, eyeing the Exsphere mounted in his hand.

"Your Exsphere has an unusual color," Kratos said.

"It does seem to be a little different from yours and the others," Lloyd muttered as he stared at the reddish-brown stone. "By the way, why do you have an Exsphere?" He had been meaning to ask Kratos this for a while, since he had first met him at the Martel Temple, but he had never gotten the chance to.

"I took one from a Desian," Kratos answered. "I heard that the Desians force the humans at the ranch to make them."

"So that's why Marble had an Exsphere, too . . ."

Kratos stared at Lloyd. "Is it alright if I ask you something as well?"

"Oh . . . okay. Sure."

"Why were you raised by a dwarf?"

It was a question that people had asked him countless times before. He didn't blame people for asking. It was a very odd thing these days, to see a dwarf raising a human especially when there were so few of the dwarves around.

"Dad found me collapsed in the forest along with Mom and Noishe," Lloyd began. "Although, what really happened was that we were attacked by Desians."

". . . I see," Kratos said in a low tone. "From the sound of that, your father is probably not alive either."

". . . Probably not," Lloyd said sadly.

Kratos stared up at the stars in the sky. "So the Desians are responsible for the deaths of your parents . . . Your life has been completely torn apart by them."

"Huh?"

Kratos looked back at Lloyd again. "Your mother was killed and then you were chased out of your village."

Kratos: So the Desians are responsible for the deaths of your parents… Your

life has been completely torn apart by them.

". . . Yeah, I guess you're right," Lloyd sighed, starting to feel a little discouraged from Kratos' words.

". . . People are . . . hopelessly powerless."

Lloyd stared at Kratos; he hadn't expected an answer like that. "Yes, they are. But you can't blame others for that weakness. That's why I'm going to grow stronger. I'm going to become powerful and defeat the Desians."

It almost seemed like a smile was tugging at Kratos' lips.

". . . I see. Then, no matter what awaits ahead, you must not forget that determination."

Lloyd stopped. Then he stood up.

". . . Why am I talking to you about this, anyway?"

Then he turned and went over to Genis, who was eating a plate of the tofu curry he had prepared for the group.

"Hey, how was the tofu curry?" Genis asked.

Lloyd thought for a moment. ". . . It was missing something."

Genis stared at him wide-eyed. "Wow, I'm surprised you noticed. But yeah, I didn't have all the ingredients."

Lloyd raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean, 'surprised'?"

"Ah, sorry," Genis immediately apologized. "I mean, I didn't expect to hear you say that."

"That's the same thing!" Lloyd growled angrily.

Genis smiled, and stared at the tofu curry on his plate.

"It would have been perfect if I had some Kirima fruit."

"Oh? You're the one that made this?" Lloyd asked in surprise.

"Of course," Genis said.

"I thought it was the Professor."

The mention of her school name caught Raine's attention.

"Oh, will you try my cooking next time, Lloyd?" she asked him.

"If you want to live, you'd better not," Genis shuddered.

Raine shot him a cruel glare.

"But it's true . . . !"

Lloyd went over to Raine; he was hoping to get some more information on her cooking 'skills'. Instead, Raine brought up another topic.

"It seems Colette's feeling better now."

". . . Yeah," Lloyd said as he glanced in Colette's direction, where she was sitting and staring at the night time sky. "It looks like becoming an angel is pretty rough."

"Yes. I wonder if her biological structure is changing."

Lloyd was immediately lost. "Bio . . . what?"

"Ah . . . in other words, I wonder if she's becoming a different kind of life form."

"Colette is Colette," Lloyd said with a straight face.

Raine smiled at him. ". . . Yes, you're right. You always point out the truth."

"Ah, well . . ." Lloyd blushed.

Genis spoke up, "It's because he lives only by instinct." He got a dirty look from Lloyd, but no cruel comeback, so he figured he was off the hook for the moment.

When Lloyd went to check up on Colette, she was still staring up at the stairs. He suddenly remembered the necklace that he still had to give her as a birthday present.

"Oh yeah, I know it's kind of late now, but here's your birthday present . . ."

When he pulled out the necklace, he found the centerpiece of the accessory broken in two.

". . . Oh no, it's broken," Colette said with sadness in her blue eyes.

"I wonder when it broke?" Lloyd wondered. "I'm sorry, I'll make you a new one."

"Thanks . . . and . . . I'm sorry that I keep causing trouble for you."

"Don't worry about it," Lloyd smiled. But then his expression turned serious. "By the way, you haven't been eating at all. Are you still feeling sick?"

"No, I'm fine," Colette assured him. "I just . . . don't . . . seem to have much of an appetite."

"You won't be able to keep up your strength if you don't eat."

". . . I know, you're right."

Suddenly, she burst into a hysteric fit of coughing.

Raine immediately noticed. "Lloyd, don't push her."

"Colette is delicate," Genis added, "unlike you."

Lloyd scowled at him. "Shut it!" Then he sighed, and looked at Colette. "I'm sorry, Colette."

"No, no, I'm okay . . ." Colette said. "I'm really sorry for worrying you."

Colette stared off into the distance. Then she looked back at Lloyd.

"I'm going to go for a little walk."

"Want me to come?" Lloyd asked.

"Thanks, but . . . I'll be fine by myself."

Then she walked away over a sand dune, leaving Lloyd behind.

Genis stuck his tongue out at Lloyd. "Ha-hah," he laughed. "You got RE-JEC-TED!"

"Hey, shut up, Genis!" Lloyd yelled.

* * *

Colette stood near the ocean side, far away from the camp ground. She coughed a few more times, and then stared out at the ocean with worried eyes.

"Ugh . . ." She couldn't seem to stop coughing.

"What's happening to me?"


	7. The Assassin

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 7: The Assassin**

Morning arrived, and after a much-needed rest, Colette was feeling well enough to continue the journey. The group had to find a ship, so they decided to press on to the next town to see what they could find.

They soon came to the Ossa Trail. It was a trail that went through the mountains that lead to the last section of the western continent of Sylvarant. Hopefully, after crossing the trail, they would find a ship that would transport them to the eastern continent so they could continue their search for the seals.

The trail soon began, the sand changing to a dirt path surrounded by grass and trees. Lloyd lead the group forward, and were about to scale the first hill when a voice called out to them.

"Stop!"

The group looked up at the woman clad in short robes and black leggings, where she was standing up on a section of cliff. She leaped down to ground level.

"What?" Lloyd wondered.

"Is she a friend of yours, Lloyd?" Colette asked curiously.

"Not that I'm aware of."

The woman stared at all of them, examining their faces.

". . . Is the Chosen of Mana among you?"

"Oh, that's me," Colette said, walking forward with a warm, greeting smile.

The woman drew two weapons that looked like cards.

"Prepare to die!"

The woman charged at them with her cards. Colette, in an attempt to back away, accidentally tripped, hitting a strange lever behind her. Suddenly, a trap door opened up underneath the strange woman's feet, causing her to fall through a deep hole in the ground.

"Uh-oh," the group all said together.

They finally heard the woman crash.

Colette jumped to her feet and went to examine the hole, hoping to find the woman.

"Oh, no! What should I do? I did it again . . ."

"You don't need to worry about it," Raine said calmly. "If she had not fallen in, you might have been killed."

"But . . ."

"Well . . . I guess I do feel a bit sorry for her," Lloyd muttered.

"I hope she's okay."

Genis approached the hole. "Even assuming her weigh to be forty-five kilograms, and this hole to be ten meters deep, and calculating the gravity constant at nine-point-eight, the impact shouldn't have been fatal."

Lloyd stared at him, completely confused. "Gravity . . . constant? I don't understand what you just said, but she's alive, right?"

"Probably," Genis said with a nod.

Lloyd crouched to his knees to stare into the deep hole.

"Still, man, she's got some bad luck," Lloyd chuckled. "Standing right on top of a trapdoor and all."

Raine shook her head before approaching the hole as well.

"It's not a trap," she observed. "It's a hidden maintenance passage for the mountain path."

Kratos didn't pay much attention to anything that was going on.

". . . We should get moving," he said hastily.

"Hey!" Lloyd shouted out, jumping back to his feet. " Shouldn't we try to find out who that woman was?"

"She'll come after us again on her own," Kratos argued. "This area is too confined and the footing is poor. It would be wise not to linger."

Agreeing with Kratos' words, the group moved on. They scaled the mountain path, taking out any monsters that were infesting it. The monsters were a lot bigger than what Lloyd had been used to fighting in the Iselia Woods, but he still fared well, especially because he had four other companions to aid him.

After going up and down several steep hills, they soon made it to a flat area, where a wooden door seemed to be blocking off a separate path.

Suddenly, the blockade crashed to the ground, revealing the same woman from before, covered in dirt and soot from her fall and her journey through the maintenance passage.

"W. . . Wait!" she panted, drawing her card weapons again.

". . . Wow, she caught up with us," Lloyd muttered, feeling a little impressed.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Colette sighed in relief as she approached the woman.

"D-Don't move!" the woman stammered.

"A wise decision," Raine snickered.

". . . I won't be caught off guard this time!" the woman growled, readying her cards. "Prepare to die!"

The woman charged at them with her weapons. Lloyd was about to block her attack, but a poof of smoke behind her caught him off guard. A strange-looking monster appeared from the smoke, wearing a strange shield-like device on its back as it floated above the ground. Still surprised from the sudden creature, he didn't notice the woman when she came to strike him with the cards. The strength of the cards caught Lloyd even more off guard – they _hurt_. He didn't know what it was, but they sent a strange sort of energy through him, and actually blew him away a few feet onto his backside.

When the group saw Lloyd get hurt by the cards, they took extra precautions when fighting her, trying to avoid her cards whenever they possibly could. It was hard to cast magic on her, because she was so quick on her feet, and she was very good at dodging attacks too. In the end, Lloyd was the only one fast enough to keep up with her, and he eventually brought her down.

The assassin fell to her knees, clutching the sword wound in her leg.

"Ugh . . . Just you wait!" she hissed, glaring straight at Lloyd and the Chosen. "I swear I will kill you all next time!" Then – despite the injured leg – she got up and ran off, disappearing into the trees.

Lloyd tried to stop her, but she was already gone.

"Why are people trying to kill us?" Lloyd asked frantically.

Kratos shook his head. "There are always those that reject salvation."

"Maybe she's a Desian," Genis suggested.

"Who knows?" Kratos said. "At any rate, we are in constant danger. That's all we have to know."

Raine was staring into space, a curious look in her eyes.

"Those clothes . . ." she said in a low voice to herself.

"Professor, something wrong?" Lloyd asked worriedly.

Raine stared at him, and then shook her head. "No, it's nothing. Let's go."

"Yeah," Lloyd sighed. "Anyway, let's go look for a place where we can get a ship."

* * *

The group soon arrived in the small town of Izoold, which resided right next to the ocean line. It was a fishing village, and was a good place to look for a ship to travel on.

Lloyd went to the first person he saw to ask about a ship.

"There aren't any passenger ships running," the man answered. "It's too dangerous. I got here only by getting a ride on a boat from a guy named Aifread." He could tell by Lloyd's expression that he wanted to know this 'Aifread'. "Aifread? No, he's not here anymore. He said he was going back to his hometown."

Lloyd sighed in defeat. They went to another villager, a red-haired teenage girl who couldn't seem to stop looking out the window, over the sea. They could hear her talking to herself when they entered her home.

"How can I quell these feelings I have?" she sighed to herself. "Aifread . . ."

Genis stepped forward to tell her what the man had told them.

"If you're looking for Aifread, we heard he went back to his hometown," he told her.

The woman suddenly looked enraged. "What did you say? Is that true?"

"Ah . . . yeah. Isn't it, Lloyd?"

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed. "So it seems, anyway."

"This is my chance!" the woman sneered before rudely pushing past Genis and heading out the door. The group decided to follow her, so they looked around the small port town until they found her speaking to another man, who appeared to own one of the boats. They could overhear her shouting at him.

"What's the matter with you? You're going to refuse my request? He's returned to his hometown of Luin!"

"It's not like that," the man replied. "There are giant monsters at sea now. It's dangerous, and I care about you too much to let you come aboard. That's all."

"Fine," the girl snapped. She shoved an envelope into his chest. "Then you go deliver the letter for me."

"No!" he instantly refused. " Why should I have to act as a go-between for my rival in love?"

"Oh, please, stop whining! Fine!" She suddenly locked her eyes on Lloyd and his friends. "You there, excuse me."

"Us?" Colette asked.

She scowled back at her. "Do you see anyone else here? I'd like you to deliver this letter for me to Aifread in Luin."

The group approached the red-haired woman.

"We can't deliver it if we can't cross the ocean," Lloyd said.

"If you'll deliver it, I'll have Max here take you on his boat."

An angry look crossed Max's face. "You can't be serious!"

"Okay," Lloyd agreed.

"Then it's settled. Alright, Max?"

"I . . . I'm not going to do it," Max still refused.

The woman glared at him with fire in her eyes. "You're kidding me! Are you saying it's alright if my letter doesn't make it to Aifread?"

"L-Lyla! No, I mean, it's not . . . I don't mean that . . ."

The red-haired Lyla crossed her arms and sneered at him. "Then what do you mean? If you keep making a fuss about this, I'll just do this on my own!"

He really had no choice anymore.

"Okay, okay," Max sighed. "I'll go, I'll go. Dammit . . ."

"You should've just said that from the start," Lyla growled, snatching the envelope from Max's hands. She approached Lloyd and gave the letter to him.

"Then it's in your hands now," she said. "Make sure it gets to him."

Then she pushed through the group, shoving them aside and leaving the port.

"She's really pushy . . ." Lloyd growled.

Max leaned against his boat, with a sick look on his face.

"Are you ready?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Lloyd said.

He stepped up onto his boat. "Okay, then let's set sail . . . Don't blame me if we run into any monsters."

The five companions boarded the wooden ship, cramming themselves on as best they could. It was a small ship, and wasn't built to hold this many people.

"Now we can finally go to the next seal," Lloyd said.

"Yeah!" cheered Colette.

Raine suddenly looked nauseous. "I was afraid this journey would force me on a boat sooner or later . . ."

Max hoisted the sail, the wind catching it and pushing it out to the ocean.

"We're at sea, we're at sea!" Genis cheered as he jumped around the boat.

"Settle down, this thing's tiny. Do you want to fall out?"

"Gee, I'm so sorry my ship is too 'tiny' for you!"

"I'm gonna fall!"

* * *

The small fishing boat soon arrived in the waters of the biggest city in Sylvarant – Palmacosta.

"We're here," Max said as he landed his small boat next to the other boats, which were easily ten times bigger than his.

"Thanks, Max," Lloyd said gratefully. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'll request escort from a Palmacosta warship or something . . ." Max sighed. "Well, take care."

"Sorry for making you take us all the way out here. Be careful on your way back."

"You, too."

_Okay_, Lloyd thought. _Let's go look for clues about the next seal. _


	8. The Book of Regeneration

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 8: The Book of Regeneration**

Lloyd and his friends walked through the busy market that was near the port, where people set up booths and sold all sorts of things, from handcrafted weapons to delicacies only found in the city. They headed down the brick road, towards another street, Colette bouncing ahead of them with a smile on her face.

They were just about to meet another street when Colette suddenly bumped into a nearby woman. The sound of bodies hitting the ground and glass shattering filled the air around them.

" . . . There she goes again," Genis sighed.

The woman that Colette had ran into glared at her with angry eyes.

"Owww! What did you do that for?"

The two girls stood up.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Colette apologized, feeling a little bit embarrassed.

The woman noticed the broken bottle and the pinkish liquid that had spilled out onto the street.

"Ah! The Palma Potion that we just received . . . !" she exclaimed.

One of the men accompanying the woman stepped in, looking just as angry as her.

"Hey lady, that was a very valuable potion! How are you planning on making up for this?"

"I'll buy a replacement potion right away," Colette said.

". . . Replacement potion?" the man shouted, his face turning red with rage. "Do you seriously think that's going to be enough to appease my anger?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, now you just sound like an idiot."

"What did you say?" the man snapped. "Do you know who we are?"

"And I should care because . . . ?"

"Why, you little . . . !"

The second woman out of the group of four, who appeared to be a mage of some sort, stepped in to stop them.

"Stop. I'd like to leave here as soon as we can. Don't start any unnecessary trouble."

"I agree," the first woman – the one Colette had bumped into – said. "Let's just have them replace the potion."

The man shot a look of disgust at the group. "You got off lucky this time, kid. Hurry up and go buy that potion."

"There's no need to bother, Colette!" Lloyd whispered to her.

"No, I ran into them, so I have to pay for it," Colette sighed back.

". . . Fine, alright."

So the group decided to start looking for a place to buy a Palma Potion. They knew that - based on its obvious name - it had to be in the city somewhere.

They stepped inside an item shop on the side of the street. They were shocked to see two Desians in the shop, who seemed to be in an argument with one of the female workers there.

"Oh please!" the brown-haired woman snapped. "There's no way anyone would sell those to you at a price that low!"

"You should be thankful that we're even willing to spend money for goods from a rundown shack like this," the first Desian growled back.

"I don't need to hear that from a bunch of filthy Desians! I'm not going to sell one single gel to the likes of you!"

The second woman there stared at her with wide eyes.

"Chocolat, stop!"

The girl turned to her.

"But Mom, these are the same monsters that took Grandma away!"

The first Desian looked even more angry than before. "You've got some nerve talking to us like that, little girl! You keep that up, and we can't guarantee what'll happen to you or this city!"

"Just try it!" the girl challenged. "As long as Governor-General Dorr is around, we'll never submit to the likes of you!"

"You little-" The Desian reached for his weapon.

"Stop!" the second Desian shouted. "We'll exceed our quota for this year. We need permission from Lord Magnius to go any further."

The first Desian turned away, and growled under his breath.

The second Desian looked at the woman with cruel eyes. "Depending on Lord Magnius' mood, you might or might not get to keep that pretty little head of yours!"

Then the two Desians turned around - the group looking away with innocent looks on their faces - and barged out of the shop.

The girl turned to her mother with a smile on her face.

"Well then, I'm off to work now, Mom."

"Take care," the mother said softly.

Then the girl went past the group as well, leaving the little shop.

"I apologize for what happened," the woman said. "I'm sure you were startled. Please, relax and take a look around."

Lloyd stepped forward with money in his hand. He noticed the woman's name tag - Cacao. He checked the price of the Palma Potion, which seemed a little expensive at one thousand Gald, but he payed the woman anyway. Even after they left the shop, Lloyd still thought the situation earlier with the two Desians was odd. Normally, Desians wouldn't be in a town for any other reason besides terrorizing the townsfolk, and even after the girl - Chocolat, if he remembered correctly - challenged them, they left without harming her. He didn't know if they had a non-violation treaty with them or not; it wouldn't make sense if they did, considering the Desians seemed to walk in and out of the town as they pleased.

Lloyd thought of all the possible reasons behind it as the group backtracked their way to the travelers they had bumped into, and handed the red-haired leader the potion.

". . . Here," Lloyd grumbled as he handed it to him.

"Alright then," the man snickered. "Looks like you're good little boys and girls after all. Just make sure you learn your lesson and don't mess with us again."

"Yes, I'll be careful," Colette apologized.

"Come on, we're leaving!" the mage woman said.

The people turned and talked as they walked away, their conversation still audible.

"I have to say, that Governor-General Dorr sure was trusting," the blue-haired woman snickered. "It's hard to believe he just gave us his family treasure like that."

"So what are we going to do with that anyway?" the hunched-over man with the brown hair asked, scratching his head.

"You're an idiot," the red-haired man snapped. "We don't have any use for that thing. We're just going to sell it to that geezer on Hakonesia Peak who collects old junk."

"Now, let's go!" the woman with the blue hair urged them, and they left the city through a different exit.

"Hehe, sorry for getting us into trouble," Colette giggled sheepishly.

". . . Those guys kinda piss me off," Link grumbled.

The group continued on through the city, until they made it to the city square. There was a large mansion-like building sitting to one side, and a couple more buildings sitting on the other side.

"Governor-General Dorr!" a boy wailed as he pushed past the group, running to an older-looking bearded man who was strolling through the city square with a young girl dressed in a small purple gown.

"Dad was taken away to the ranch and hasn't come back. Even though I've been a good boy . . . !" the boy cried to the man.

"Hang on just a little longer," the man assured the boy. "I promised, remember? I'll save everyone who's been taken away to the ranch."

"But . . . I'm lonely . . ." the boy sniffled, wiping his eyes.

"Don't worry," the young girl said with a warm smile. "Father is a friend of everyone in this city. My mother died of an illness, but your father should still be alive. I'm sure he'll come back."

The boy looked at her with a bit more hope in his eyes. ". . . Really?"

"Yes," the man said. "They were all taken away because they fought back against the Desians. I swear I'll rescue them."

". . . Okay," the boy sighed, his tears subsiding. "I'll wait for Dad to come back."

"Good boy." The man took the little girl's hand. "Let's go, Kilia."

"Yes, Father."

The father and his daughter left, heading inside the big mansion-like building.

"Who was that?" Lloyd said aloud.

An elderly man heard Lloyd's question, and turned to face him.

"Governor-General Dorr," the man answered him. "He's recruiting soldiers and resisting the Desians. He's a wonderful man."

The woman next to him nodded in agreement. "After losing his wife to an illness, he's raised his daughter Kilia all by himself . . ."

"As long as Governor-General Dorr is here, we won't submit to the Desians. Even if we're carried off to the ranch, Dorr will come and save us. We believe in him."

The group walked away, a smile growing on Colette's face.

"The people of this city are all so strong," she said.

"That Dorr person must be a great man," Lloyd agreed.

Lloyd decided they should find out more about Dorr, so he lead the group inside of the huge building, where Dorr was sitting at his desk at the back of the room. Two soldiers were guarding the entryway right before his working area, and his daughter, Kilia, and another man who appeared to be his co-worker were standing on either side of him.

"Greetings, travelers!" Dorr greeted them immediately, a warm, welcoming smile on his aged face. "We welcome travelers, as per the teachings of Martel. May the blessing of Martel be upon those who journey."

He stared at the group for a brief moment, taking in their appearances and their unfamiliar faces.

"By the way, may I ask where you have come from? Are you on a pilgrimage for Martel?"

"Ah, we came from Iselia," Lloyd answered. "We're on a journey for world regeneration."

"World regeneration . . .?" A confused look grew on Dorr's face.

"Colette here is the Chosen of Mana," Genis said. "The Tower of Salvation appeared, right?"

". . . Are you saying that you are the Chosen?" Dorr asked roughly as he eyed Colette.

"Ah, um, yes," Colette replied nervously. "It seems that way, anyway."

Dorr's assistant stared at him. ". . . Governor-General Dorr . . ."

"Yes . . ." Dorr agreed. "The Chosen was just here moments ago! How dare you defile that name! These despicable criminals must be arrested and turned over to the church at once!"

Armored guards started to approach the group from behind them, blocking their way out. Just as they tried to flee, Colette lost her balance and fell to the floor. Her wings suddenly appeared from her back, flapping around for everybody to see.

"Wow!" the General's daughter, her eyes wide as she stared at Colette's wings. "Father, did you see? She has wings! She's like an angel! They're beautiful!"

"W-Wait!" shouted Dorr's assistant. "Everyone, lower your weapons! This person before us is without a doubt the Chosen of Mana!"

The guards lowered their spears and backed away, returning to their posts.

"There is no mistaking the angel wings that are on your back! Please, forgive our insolence, Chosen One."

"Ah, um, please, it's okay," Colette stuttered in embarrassment and nervousness. "Um, um . . . it's alright, really. Everyone tells me I'm not very Chosen-like at all."

"But this means . . ." Dorr grumbled, "the Chosen we gave the Book of Regeneration to was an imposter?"

". . . Wait a minute," Lloyd stopped him. "You said something about the Chosen coming here already. What is the Book of Regeneration? What's going on?"

"The Book of Regeneration is a record of Spiritua's journey," his assistant answered. "It is the only document containing detailed records of the world regeneration, and it is a precious heirloom passed down through the generations of Governor-Generals of Palmacosta."

"That's it!" Genis exclaimed. "With that, we won't have any trouble finding the seals!"

"And you say you handed over this invaluable book to a random person claiming to be the 'The Chosen'?" Raine sneered. "Unbelievable."

". . . Of course!" Lloyd yelled. "It must be those guys that were giving us trouble earlier!"

"We had received information that the Chosen's group was headed this way, so we naturally thought that they were them . . ." the assistant sighed.

"Are you stupid or something?" Genis snapped. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"I am terribly sorry . . ."

"I can't believe this!" Genis continued to shout. "Do you use your eyes at all or are they just there for decoration? You humans are-"

Raine gave him a good slap across the head before he could finish.

"Ow!"

"Genis, that's enough!" Raine scolded him.

Lloyd looked at Dorr. "You don't happen to remember the contents of that whatever-it's-called book, do you?"

"I'm afraid not . . ." Dorr said shamefully. "It is, after all, written in the language of the angels, so only members of the church can read it."

"Oh, I know! Let's try asking at the church," Colette suggested. "Maybe the priests know something."

"That's a good idea," Raine said. "Let's give it a try. Any objections?"

"You have my deepest apologies, Chosen One," the assistant said with a bow of his head.

The group bid farewell to both Dorr and his assistant - Dorr of whom seemed unusually quiet - and then went to find the church, which was located near the opposite side of the city square from where they had entered the first time. It was next to a very large school building. They went inside and approached the front where a pastor was standing in front of a grand statue of what appeared to be Spiritua.

"Oh, Chosen One!" the pastor greeted them with a smile. "Do you remember me? I'm Marche. I trained as a priest at the Martel Temple."

"Of course I remember you," Colette replied with a similar smile. "It's so nice to see you again. So you've become a pastor now."

"Yes. Ever since the Tower of Salvation appeared, I have eagerly awaited the arrival of the Chosen. The legend of Spiritua will surely be of use to you."

"Spiritua gave her first sermon here, right?"

"Yes, that is correct. The legend of the world regeneration from that time was written down in the Book of Regeneration and was given to the royal family. It contains a record of the location of every seal."

Raine stepped forward. "Do you keep a record of its contents here by any chance?"

"No, it was not compiled by the church," Marche replied. "Would you like me to request Governor-General Dorr to show it to you?"

"That . . . won't help," Colette sighed. "It seems he gave the book to a group of imposters pretending to be us."

"That's terrible!" Marche choked. "Unfortunately, the Book of Regeneration is the only record of Spiritua's footsteps. I am sorry I could not be of help."

The group walked away feeling very empty-handed, but ran into the woman - Chocolat - from the item shop, where she seemed to be running a booth near the front doors of the church.

"Oh, you're the ones that came to our item shop earlier, aren't you?" she asked. "I'm sorry about what you saw earlier. I work here as a pilgrim tour guide."

"Ah, don't worry about it . . ." Lloyd said. "But are you going to be okay? Those guys might not hesitate to destroy this entire city."

"You don't know anything, do you?" Chocolat laughed in a way that was almost insulting to Lloyd. "This area is under control of Magnius from the eastern ranch, but just last month they reached the designated death count limit. We're safe until next year."

"So this city hasn't signed a non-aggression treaty," Raine said aloud.

"Iselia's the only place with a treaty like that. Although there are many who envy it. I don't want any part of a treaty that panders to the Desians."

"But that means you must spend every day in fear of the Desians," Kratos objected.

Chocolat wasn't worried. "Besides, Governor-General Dorr is building a resistance force to fight the Desians. He'll be getting rid of them soon. And on top of that, I've heard the Chosen of Mana has already begun her journey of world regeneration!"

"Oh, yes," Colette said.

"Just hang in there until the Chosen saves us, okay?"

Colette beamed. "O-Okay! I will!"

Lloyd leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Colette, she doesn't realize you're the Chosen."

Chocolat smiled at them. "So while we're waiting for the regeneration, I recommend that you follow Martel's teachings and go on a journey. The current tour is already full, so would you like to sign up for the next one? You're nice, so I'll let you in on the tour at a reduced rate."

Chocolat waved goodbye as the group left the church. They stopped at the city square to discuss their next plan.

"What should we do?" Colette asked. "Shall we just go looking for the seals using Remiel's words as clues?"

"I think we would be better off getting hold of the Book of Regeneration," Raine objected.

"Raine, you know you're more interested in that book itself than in the location of the seals," Genis grumbled.

Lloyd sighed in defeat and shook his head. "Damn . . . it looks like we don't have any choice but to chase after the imposters."

"But how?" Colette wondered.

"Remember what they said? They're planning on selling off the Book of Regeneration."

"Off to Hakonesia Peak, then," Raine said.

"Wow!" Colette cheered. "Lloyd, you're amazing!"

"It's only at times like this that he has a good memory," Genis snickered.

Lloyd glared at him. "Shut up, Genis! Now, let's get going."


	9. Hakonesia Peak

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 9: Hakonesia Peak**

The group walked along the dirt path, away from the bustling city of Palmacosta, following the map in Raine's hands that would lead them to Hakonesia Peak, where they hoped to find the imposters and the Book of Regeneration. They were also enjoying a small meal of tuna sandwiches, prepared by Genis. Lloyd stuffed the sandwiches all at once into his mouth, starving because he hadn't eaten anything since they left Izoold, but Colette merely picked at them, eating them slowly and only taking in tiny portions at a time. Eventually, she just handed the uneaten parts back to Genis.

"What's up, Colette?" Lloyd asked worriedly. "You're already full?"

"Are you not feeling well?" Raine asked, looking up from the map.

"N-No, it's not that," Colette sighed. "I was just thinking, it's a lot to eat."

"Really? Looks like you've actually got less than normal," Lloyd observed.

"Ah, don't worry," Colette assured them. "I'll make sure to finish it."

After they had finished off the sandwiches, they soon made it to a caravan that was parked in the middle of a clearing in the field.  
They went to explore, and ran into two children, a boy and a girl.

"Who are you?" they both asked.

A man with a beard and a turban wrapped around his head approached them. He must have been the kids' father.

"Oh, my, we don't get visitors very often," the man chuckled. He introduced himself as Noah. "May I help you?"

"Ah, no, we were just passing by," Lloyd said. "Are you in the middle of a pilgrimage?"

"We are traveling while studying the animals of the world," he said. "I'm a zoologist."

"Really?" Lloyd snickered. "That's a weird thing to do in these dangerous times . . ."

Raine hit Lloyd hard over the head.

"Ow!"

"Traveling the world in pursuit of knowledge . . . that's wonderful!" Raine said happily.

"Hahaha. I just like seeing all sorts of rare animals."

"We even saw a giant glowing bird!" his daughter said with wide eyes.

"Glowing bird?" Lloyd asked curiously; he had never seen or even heard of anything like a giant glowing bird.

Raine thought about it for a brief moment. ". . . That may have been Aska, the Summon Spirit of Light."

"Really?" Noah wondered. "That bird is a Summon Spirit? I see . . . That would explain why it's a species I've never seen before."

"Say, tell us about the time you saw it," Lloyd said. He was curious and wanted to know more about this 'glowing bird'.

"The information might come in handy," Genis agreed with Lloyd, "and besides, I want to hear the story."

"In that case, I think it would be better to ask my children," Noah chuckled. "I actually didn't get a good look at the bird."

"Okay," Lloyd said.

They first went to the boy, who introduced himself as Alduin.

"Say, tell us in detail about the time you saw the glowing bird," Lloyd asked him.

"Ah, it was on the Ossa Trail," Alduin replied. "We were camping out near the peak and that glowing bird appeared."

"Ossa Trail . . . hmm . . ." Lloyd thought aloud, wondering why he hadn't seen the bird considering they had just been on the Ossa Trail hours earlier.

"Also, the wind was strong that day," Alduin added. "A tree nearby played a mysterious melody as its nuts shook in the wind. It was like a beautiful song."

"Tree nuts playing a mysterious melody?" Lloyd exclaimed. "What the heck is that?"

"That's probably the Linkite Tree that is said to grow in high places," Raine said as she curiously rubbed her chin. "It is said that when the nuts shake in the wind, they make a beautiful sound, like bells."

"Hmm, I didn't know there was a tree like that. But doesn't that mean we can go meet Aska if we just go to the Ossa Trail?"

"No, the tree isn't there anymore," Alduin sighed. "Either someone cut it down and took it away, or it was carried away in a landslide or something . . ."

"Yeah, we didn't see any tree like that when we went there before," Lloyd muttered.

"That stump we saw near the peak might have been it," Raine suggested.

"We've traveled all over the world," Alduin sighed in defeat, "but we've yet to see that tree again."

Raine nodded. "That tree is thought to be extinct from over-harvesting and natural disasters. I don't think it will be easy to find."

Lloyd scratched his head. "Hmm . . ."

They went to Noah's daughter next, who went by the name of May.

"You know, on that day, I picked nuts from the tree," she said. "And, um . . . it makes a pretty sound." She held out a handful of the purple-colored nuts.

"That's . . . could we see it?" Lloyd asked politely.

May handed Lloyd a nut. Colette looked at it with wondrous eyes.

"So this is a Linkite Nut . . ."

Lloyd gently shook it like a bell near his ear, and it began to make a pretty jingling sound.

"It really does make a pretty sound," Lloyd gasped.

"I'll give that one to you!" May said happily. "I have some more here!"

"Thank you very much."

After leaving May, they ran into Noah's wife.

"Oh, you're . . ."

"Sarah, thanks again," Lloyd said with a smile.

"Lloyd, do you know her?" Raine asked curiously.

"She helped us out when it was just the two of us," Genis answered.

It had happened when Genis and Lloyd left the village. Just before reaching the desert, they ran into the same caravan, where they met Sarah, who was the only person there at the time. She was kind enough to let them rest their until they regained their strength, and then they had set off for the desert.

"Oh, my . . . Thank you so much for looking after these children," Raine thanked the woman.

"It was my pleasure," Sarah giggled.

"Sarah, there's something we'd like to ask you," Lloyd said, stepping forward. "If you know anything about the glowing bird, we'd like you to tell us."

The woman stopped to think, and finally said, "I imagine that bird can only be found among steep, impregnable mountains - ones you could never reach by foot."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because we've been everywhere that one can walk to. If you could find it in one of those places, I think we would already have encountered it."

"I see . . ."

When they were done talking to the caravan family, they gathered together in a circle to see what they compiled.

"I'll sum up the situation in which they encountered the glowing bird," Raine began. "First, they encountered it on the Ossa Trail. This indicates that the glowing bird only appears in high places. Next, a Linkite Tree made a beautiful sound, as if the nuts were producing a melody. Finally, on that day there was a strong wind, and the sound of the Linkite Nuts was carried a long distance by the wind. I think that about sums it up."

"They said that, after traveling around the world, they went back to the Ossa Trail again, but the Linkite Tree was already gone," Genis added.

Lloyd nodded. "And they've yet to find another Linkite Tree on any of their journeys. At least, there weren't any they could get to by foot."

"Which means in order to meet Aska," Raine continued, "we need to search for a Linkite Tree in a place you can't get to on foot."

"That sounds impossible . . ." Lloyd groaned.

"Yes . . . well, we don't need to accomplish it immediately," Raine said. "And even if we did find a Linkite Tree, it wouldn't do us any good if it was dead."

"The sound has to be carried on the wind and playing a melody sounds difficult, too," Genis sighed.

"Couldn't you do something about a dead tree with your healing arts?" Lloyd asked Raine.

"My power alone wouldn't be enough," Raine objected. "In order to heal something that's already dead, I'd need something that could strengthen my skills . . . something that could call forth the Linkite Tree's will to live. Something like an Exsphere or even just a small fragment of one . . . Also, if it's dead, that means the ground there is weak. We'd need to replenish the earth and make it nourishing again."

"Dad's the only one I can think of who might have a spare Exsphere . . ." Lloyd pondered.

"Although, if there are any other dwarves around, they might have one, too," Genis suggested.

Raine sighed and shook her head. "There's nothing we can do. Let's give up on Aska."

"Fascinating . . ."

"Whoa!" Lloyd exclaimed when he realized that Noah was listening in on them.

"I see now . . ." the man said with an impressed gaze. "That's impressive the way you've found the rules of how it works."

"But all we've learned is that meeting Aska is hard," Lloyd said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well, I suppose so . . . I've gone ahead and made note of the information you've assembled. Feel free to talk to me anytime you want to hear it."

"Okay."

Before they left, Lloyd looked over the information Noah wrote down so that he could keep an eye out for anything that could help them during their journey.

_To find the Linkite Tree_

_The Linkite Tree is thought to be somewhere that _  
_cannot be reached by foot. If the Linkite Tree is_  
_dead, we must strengthen the healing arts, call_  
_forth the tree's will to live, and nourish the ground._

Lloyd thanked him, and then left with the group to head to Hakonesia Peak. Leaving the caravan behind, they walked back onto the dirt path, following the Raine's map once again. On the way, they saw a nearby House of Salvation, and decided to stop by.

When they walked into the House, they saw the assassin who had tried to kill them on the Ossa Trail, standing before a small statue of Spiritua and praying about something.

". . . lla will suffer," she said to finish her sentence. "Please, help me save everyone."

"Hey, what are you praying for?" Lloyd called out to her.

She spun around with a look of shock on her face.

". . . Uh!"

"Well, there's a nice thought," Lloyd snickered.

"S-Shut up!"

"My name's Lloyd! What's yours?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "What . . . ?"

"Lloyd?" Genis asked, wondering why he was being so friendly with the same person who was out to kill him.

"Ah, I'm Colette," Colette said, stepping forward to greet the woman. "I'm still inexperienced as a Chosen, but I promise I'll do my best and regenerate the world."

"I never asked you your names!" the woman snapped.

"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry."

"I . . . I'm trying to kill you!" the woman yelled at them.

"But if we talk, I'm sure we can come to an understanding," Colette said with a gentle smile.

"Are you listening to me?"

Colette nodded. "I'm listening. But, um . . . Ms. Assassin . . ."

"It's Sheena!" the woman yelled out. "Sheena Fujibayashi!"

"Sheena," Colette corrected herself. "You were praying. Praying makes one's heart grow. I pray, too. So I'm sure we can understand each other."

"I . . . I was praying that I'd be able to kill you . . ." the woman growled under her breath. She glared at them and drew a card. "Forget it! I lost my concentration! You'd better be ready next time!"

Before the group could stop her, she threw the card to the floor, and it exploded into a big gray cloud of smoke. When the smoke dispersed, the strange woman - Sheena Fujibayashi - was gone.

* * *

"You cannot pass through these gates unless you have a road pass."

"Road passes are available for sale in that small shop. You must purchase one if you wish to pass here."

Lloyd sighed in defeat. They were at Hakonesia Peak, and were looking to go through the gate leading to the other side of the peak, but it was blocked off by two guards who appeared to be from Palmacosta, both of them forbidding entry without a road pass. The guard pointed out the small shop that was sitting just before the steep hill of the peak. There were piles of junk laying around the building.

The group entered the shop, where an old man was standing near the back of the room, completely surrounded by antiques and old junk. There was a sign by the door that said: _Koton's Antiques and Road Passes_.

They approached the old man.

"If you're looking for road passes, it's one hundred million Gald per person," he grumbled.

"Wha? What kind of price is that?" Lloyd yelled. "That's robbery!"

"Silence, boy!" Koton sneered at him. "I'll have you know, I hate men!"

"That means even those on pilgrimages with the Church of Martel can't make it past here," Raine said.

"Oh, my, you're quite the beauty!" Koton chuckled as he eyed Raine. "If you're on a pilgrimage, you should join the Asgard ruin tour at the Palmacosta travel agency."

"Hey!" Genis exclaimed. "You're in cahoots with the travel agency!"

"Oh, shut up!" Koton snapped at Genis. "If you don't have any money, then get out of here!"

Colette's eyes strayed to an old book sitting on a podium, its words written in an old language.

"Hmm? That's a very old scripture . . ." she muttered before walking over to it to examine it.

"Oh, my beautiful maiden!" Koton snickered. "You have a good eye!" He walked over to her to look at the book as well. "This here is something I purchased from the Chosen of Mana. It's a very rare scripture record that contains the Legend of Spiritua!"

His words caught the group's attention.

"I've been wanting to get my hands on this for ages! I'd just about given up on Dorr ever letting go of it. It was very fortunate that the Chosen herself was willing to part with it!"

"Let us have that!" Lloyd demanded. "At least just let us look at it for a bit."

"You've got to be kidding!" Koton snorted. "Why should I have to show it to you people?"

"Oh, come on!" Genis groaned loudly. "Colette is the Cho-"

Raine hit Genis over the head before he could continue.

"Stop," Raine hissed at him. "We'll be the ones treated as imposters."

"The Cho . . .?" Koton wondered.

"The Chosen of Mana's devout follower," Raine finished for him. "She wishes to view articles that the Chosen has possessed. Colette is a faithful believer and is versed in the language of the angels."

"Ah, yes, that's right," Colette said. "I've studied it since I was a child."

"Well, if it's that important to you . . ." Koton sighed, scratching his bald head. "The maiden and beauty can have a look at it. More than anything, I want the Spiritua Statue that is displayed in the House of Salvation. If you bring me that, I'll consider showing you the book."

"You're so stingy!" Genis scoffed. "Like it costs you anything to just let us look at it!"

"Shaddup! Get the heck outta here if you don't have money and don't have the statue!"

The group quickly left the building before they could get him really mad. Lloyd was about to ask about the Spiritua Statue, but he never got the chance before they spotted the huge group of people from Palmacosta gathered outside the shop, buzzing with rumors and whispering amongst themselves.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Lloyd asked one of the townsfolk.

"Oh, you don't know?" a woman asked back.

A man stepped forward. "You all would be better off waiting here for a while. No matter what, you should stay away from Palmacosta."

"Did something happen in Palmacosta?" Lloyd asked worriedly.

"It seems the Desians are headed for Palmacosta!" another woman exclaimed.

"What?"

"Plus, they say the leader of the nearby human ranch, Magnius, is with them," the man added.

_Magnius . . ._

"I'm going to wait here until things cool down," the man continued. "You should hold off on going anywhere for a while, too."


	10. The Desians' Retaliation

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 10: The Desians' Retaliation**

The group soon made it to Palmacosta, and the first thing they noticed was how quiet the town was. When they made it to the city square, they found everyone gathered around an execution site, where Chocolat's mother, Cacao, had a rope tied loosely around her neck, standing on a podium above everybody else. The group rushed in, hiding amongst the rest of the townsfolk.

One of the guards pushed everybody away.

"Out of the way! Lord Magnius approaches!"

A burly man wearing elegant clothing and metal boots approached the execution site, his red hair tied back into a large ponytail. He had rough skin and a scar going through his left eye.

"It's Magnius from the eastern ranch . . ." one of the townsfolk trembled.

The Desian glared at the man, and grabbed him by the neck.

"That's LORD Magnius, vermin!"

The sound of bones breaking could be heard from the man's neck as he clutched the man's throat tighter, killing him instantly. Magnius dropped the body to the ground and approached Cacao, where she was standing on the podium.

"This woman defied the wishes of the great Lord Magnius and refused to provide us with supplies," one of the Desian captains said to the crowd.

"Therefore, while the designated death count has been exceeded, we have been granted orders to carry out this woman's execution!" the other captain said.

"Dammit!" Lloyd hissed. "Why isn't the city militia doing anything to stop this?"

A man heard him speaking, and turned to face him.

"Most of them are out on training exercises right now," he answered.

"The Desians must have waited for this opportunity," Genis growled. "Slimy jerks!"

Chocolat suddenly appeared from the crowd, and immediately locked her gaze on her mother standing on the podium.

"Mom!" she cried out, running towards the podium.

"Stop right there, woman!" the first captain yelled.

The second captain also stepped in. "If you interfere, we'll make you suffer in ways that will leave you begging for death!"

"You think Governor-General Dorr will let you get away with this?" Chocolat yelled at them.

"Dorr?" Magnius snickered. "Hahahahaha! Don't get your hopes up, woman!" He raised his hand, ready to give the command to hang her mother.

"No!" Chocolat cried out.

Before he could issue the command, a small stone flew out from the crowd, hitting him in the side. He turned his gaze to the little boy with the stones in his hand.

"You . . . disgusting vermin!" Magnius roared, approaching him with his fists clenched and his teeth grit tightly.

Lloyd stepped forward with his sword in hand. "Stop right there!" Lloyd performed one of his special moves, sending a blade-like shockwave towards Magnius. It hit him square in the chest. Magnius fell to his knees, tightly clutching his wound.

"Ugh!"

Raine ran to Lloyd.

"Lloyd, stop! Do you want to turn this city into the next Iselia?"

"It's not the same!" Lloyd argued. "This city doesn't have a non-aggression treaty with the Desians! How can we go on a quest to regenerate the world if we can't even save the people standing right in front of us?"

"Lloyd's right!" Colette agreed as she stepped forward as well, her chakrams drawn. "I won't just stand here and let this happen!"

One of the captains saw Lloyd and smirked. ". . . You! You're wanted criminal number zero-zero-seven-four . . . Lloyd Irving!"

Magnius smiled as he stood to his feet. "Well, now! So you're that boy with the Exsphere! Hahaha! This is perfect! After I take that Exsphere from you, they'll make me the leader of the Five Grand Cardinals! Get them!"

The captain readied his staff, preparing a fire spell. He sent fire balls towards Lloyd, Raine, and Colette, but Genis ran forward and used a deflecting spell - Force Field - to block it. The fire balls disappeared, and he walked away unscathed, smiling and saying to himself, "Amateurs . . ."

"Dammit! You worthless idiots!" Magnius screamed. "Enough of this! I'll take care of this woman first!"

The guard waiting underneath the podium activated the trap door underneath Cacao's feet, causing her to fall through and the rope to tighten around her throat.

"No!" Colette gasped, and threw one of her chakrams at the rope. The chakram cut through the rope, causing Cacao to fall through the trap door to the ground below.

"What the-?" Magnius stammered as he watched the chakram fly back around to Colette's hand.

Kratos leaped forward with his blade while Magnius was distracted, taking the sword and striking Magnius in the gut.

"Ugh!" Magnius choked.

Kratos put his sword back into its sheath.

"Let us respect the wishes of the Chosen."

The citizens of Palmacosta all looked at Colette and the group with wide, excited eyes.

"The Chosen . . . ?"

"She is the Chosen?"

"The Chosen herself has come to save us?"

"Do you all realize what you're doing?" Raine asked Lloyd with a serious glare. "If you defy the Desians, this city may be attacked just like Iselia."

"That's right!" Lloyd growled. "And I know full well what I'm doing! I won't repeat the same mistake again. I'll destroy them all, the entire ranch!"

"Lloyd, that's insanity."

"They're only after Colette and me anyway," Lloyd continued to argue. "And besides, we have the Chosen on our side! The savior who will regenerate the world!" He smiled at Colette. "Right, Colette?"

Colette stepped up to his side.

"Yup! I'm going to fight for everyone's sake."

"Oh, Lady Colette!" an older man from the crowd gasped. "The great Chosen of Mana!"

"I give up," Raine sighed. "You're all hopeless . . . but I'll help, since I'd be worried about you otherwise."

"Professor Sage, thanks!" Lloyd said happily.

Magnius tried to stand from the wounds both Lloyd and Kratos had given him.

"Damned little . . . enough of this crap!" he yelled. He turned to his soldiers. "I'm leaving them to you. Get rid of them!"

Magnius vanishes from the scene.

"How dare you lay a hand on Lord Magnius! You're all dead!" the Desian captain roared before sending his soldier troops ahead with their blades ready for battle. They took them down in a few meager moments, Lloyd and Colette taking care of the soldiers while Genis took care of the mage, who remained outside of the field so he could prepare his magic without being interrupted.

After having taken care of the enemies, the group rushed Cacao and her daughter away from the square, taking them back to the item shop, which also doubled as their home. Even after all the excitement, Cacao seemed fine.

"Thank you," Cacao said gently.

"Thank you so much for saving my mom!" cried Chocolat. "I don't know what I would have done if they'd murdered my mom as well . . ."

"As well . . . ?" Genis wondered.

"My husband volunteered in Governor-General Dorr's army . . ." Cacao began to explain, ". . . and was killed in a battle against the Desians." Her eyes went gloomy. "And my mother . . . was taken to the ranch."

"It was Grandma that originally founded our shop," Chocolat said. "We have to protect it - not just for ourselves, but also for Grandma's sake, for when she returns." Chocolat gazed at the clock at the wall, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I'd better get going soon. It's almost time for the next Asgard pilgrimage."

"Asgard pilgrimage?" Lloyd asked worriedly.

"I work at the Church of Martel Travel Agency. But it's not like I believe in Martel or anything . . ."

"Chocolat!" Cacao gasped. "How can you say such a thing?"

"I know . . . I know," Chocolat sighed. "I'm grateful for the Chosen. But Martel didn't protect Dad or Grandma. Even this time, it wasn't Martel, but the Chosen and her companions that saved Mom. How can anyone believe in a goddess that sleeps while we suffer?"

"I understand," Colette said gently. "But I still think Martel exists."

"You think . . . ?"

"I'm sure of it." A warm smile grew on Colette's face. "She exists inside you and me."

"Well, if the Chosen says so . . ." Chocolat shuffled around on her feet a little. "Then I'll at least try to believe."

"Are there really people that want to go on a trip right after what just happened here?" Lloyd asked, feeling a little concerned.

"It's after events like this that both those with and without faith feel the need to go on a journey in search of salvation," Kratos said in a low mumble.

"That pretty much sums it up," Chocolat agreed. "Well then, thank you all very much!"

* * *

The group was about to leave the city, when they ran into a man that looked like a priest from the church.

"Do you know Hakonesia Peak?" he asked them. "You know about it, right? I'm sure you do, I can tell. Is there any chance I could talk you into escorting me to Hakonesia Peak?"

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders - they were heading in that direction anyway. "Sure."

"Thanks! I appreciate it!"

After lots of walking and a few monster battles, the group made it to the peak, the priest still in one piece.

"Thank you! I'm in your debt!" the man said, bowing to the group in thanks. "I'll be happy to return the favor any time!"

After the man left, Lloyd rolled his eyes. He knew there would probably be no chances for him to pay them back, and it didn't really matter anyway.

They were stopped by another person again, this time a soldier who worked for Dorr.

"Chosen One! Everyone!"

"What is it?" Colette asked worriedly.

"I have a message from Dorr. He would like you to temporarily postpone the journey of regeneration."

"What is this about?" Kratos asked with a stern tone; it would definitely have to be important, if they had to stop their journey to attend to it.

"A Church of Martel pilgrimage tour guide has been kidnapped by the Desians. In light of this, Dorr has decided that this is the time to gather Palmacosta's forces and launch and attack on the human ranch controlled by Magnius," the soldier explained.

Genis raised a curious eyebrow. "How is that related?"

"We would like you to rescue the kidnapped tour guide in concert with our attack."

"Who is this kidnapped tour guide?" Colette asked.

"Her name is Chocolat."

The group went stone-still, cold expressions on their faces.

"Chocolat?" Lloyd swallowed.

Raine shook her head and sighed. "Oh no . . ."

"Chosen One, please help us," the soldier begged.

Lloyd immediately shook his head.

"Yeah, okay."

A slight smile crossed Raine's face. "Somehow, I thought you were going to say that."

"Of course! We can't just leave her."

"Thank you!" the soldier with an edge of relief in his voice. "Neil will inform you of the details once you reach the ranch. Thank you so much for your help." Then the soldier marched off, back towards Palmacosta.

And so the group started to head back to Palmacosta again. It was starting to annoy Lloyd how many times they had to keep going back and forth. But after seeing Koton's old antique shop again, he instantly remembered the Spiritua Statue, and made the group stop at the House of Salvation that sat between Palmacosta and the Peak.

They went inside the House and approached the grand priest where he was standing near the altar.

"You say you . . . want the Spiritua Statue?" the man asked, his eyes a little worried, not to mention suspicious.

"I know it's a brazen request," Lloyd said. "But it's for the world regeneration."

"Please, Father," Colette begged, bowing her head down in respect.

"If the Chosen asks, we will of course not hesitate to lend our aid." The grand priest turned to the other priest, who was obviously a step lower than him when it came to the class of priests.

"Bring the statue here," he asked the priest.

The priest suddenly burst into hysterics.

"M-My most humble apologies!" he sputtered. Before the group could ask, the man continued to banter on. "This Spiritua Statue is actually a fake I had placed here."

"What? What are you talking about?" the grand priest asked, his eyes wide with shock.

The priest hung his head in shame. "I lost the real Spiritua Statue during the pilgrimage a year ago."

Lloyd stared in awe at the priest. "The pilgrimage is the Church of Martel's spiritual training journey, right? Why would you take the statue along with you?"

"The halo on the head of the Spiritua Statue is made of diamond," the grand priest explained more clearly. "We always take it with us when we go out on pilgrimages in order to protect it from thieves."

The priest nodded, and continued, "On the trip last year, I followed that custom as usual and brought the Spiritua Statue with me to Thoda Island. But there, I accidentally dropped it into the geyser."

Lloyd groaned. "Why did you have to take it to a place like that?"

"I am terribly sorry," the priest said immediately. "I was so moved upon seeing the geyser for the first time . . . by the time I realized it, the statue had fallen onto the rocks on the other side of the geyser. Desperate, I paid a visit to a dwarf who lives in Iselia and had him make something just like it."

Genis smiled. "Oh, that'd be Dirk."

"It's very good work," Raine said as she examined the statue sitting on the altar. "Just what I'd expect from Dirk."

Lloyd groaned again, and grumbled to himself, "Dad . . . just what kind of jobs are you doing?"

"Well then, what shall we do now?" Kratos asked, although he didn't seem to worried. "Do you think the fake will fool that old man?"

The group all stopped to think about Kratos' words.

"That doesn't seem likely," Raine objected. "It's well-built, but it's still a fake, as is the diamond."

Colette looked at the rest of the group, and then said shyly, "Um . . . um . . . How about if we go get the real one?"

Raine looked like she was ready to go into shock. "Y . . . You want to go all the way to Thoda Island? And on top of that, the rocky area is on the other side of the geyser, correct?"

"Y-Yes," the priest stammered, still feeling embarrassed about his mistake.

"The problem is the geyser," Lloyd sighed. "Even I'll pass on getting hit with boiling water."

The shocked look instantly disappeared from Raine's face, and she lit up with joy.

"Oh, my, Lloyd, you remembered that a geyser erupts with boiling water! I'm so proud!" she exclaimed.

"Lloyd, you're amazing!" Colette cheered.

"Of course," Lloyd muttered. "Everyone knows that."

"I bet you just guessed," Genis mumbled.

"Sh . . . Shut up . . ."

Kratos turned away; he almost looked like he was ashamed.

Colette thought for a moment. "If only we could stop the geyser."

"I've heard that the eruption cycle of the Thoda Island geyser is quite short," Kratos pointed out.

"I wonder if we can seal it with something," Raine wondered.

It was Lloyd's turn to think. His face lit up when he got an idea.

"That's it! We'll just have Genis seal it with magic."

"Magic? How?" Genis asked.

"Like cover it with ice or something."

Genis smiled. "Okay! I'll give it a try." He playfully punched Lloyd in the chest. "You'd better be grateful!"

"Dwarven Vow #1: 'Let's all work together for a peaceful world'." He patted Genis' head. "We're counting on you, Mr. Genius Magician."

* * *

When they arrived at the ranch, they were stopped by Dorr's assistant, Neil.

"Chosen One, please wait," he hissed quietly from his hiding spot amongst the trees where the Desians couldn't see.

"Neil!" Lloyd exclaimed, still trying to be quiet. "We heard Chocolat's been kidnapped!"

"Yes. I wish to speak with you regarding that. Please, come this way."

". . . It doesn't sound like you have very good news for us," Raine muttered.

Neil led the group away from the main area of the ranch into a small clearing underneath a covering of trees. It was still near the ranch, but it was hidden well, and as long as they were quiet, they wouldn't be found.

Neil began to speak.

"I would like you all to just go ahead and leave the Palmacosta region," he said quietly.

"But if we do that, what will happen to Chocolat?" Colette argued.

"Yeah!" Genis exclaimed in agreement. "We're supposed to work in conjunction with the Palmacosta army to save Chocolat, right?"

Neil shook his head. "No, that's-"

"So, it is a trap," Kratos growled, cutting him off.

Neil stared wide-eyed at Kratos.

"Of the several possibilities, it looks like the worst one came true," Raine observed.

"Kratos and Professor! What are you talking about?" Lloyd asked them.

"It was a mystery that the Desians would simply leave a city with an army alone," Kratos pointed out.

"Yes, exactly," Raine agreed. "Choosing not to crush the seeds of rebellion must mean they are not a threat . . . They are left alone simply because they have no real power, or perhaps, because they are in fact beneficial . . ."

". . . It is as you say," Neil said grimly. "Dorr is working with the Desians to lead the Chosen into a trap."

"Why would he do such a thing?" Genis gasped.

Neil's eyes filled with sadness and regret. "He didn't used to be like this . . . He always thought of the well-being of the people of the city. Even five years ago, when he lost his wife, Clara, he swore to fight against the Desians."

Colette stared at him. "Then why . . ."

"I don't know. At any rate, entering the ranch now will put the Chosen in danger. Leave Chocolat to me, and please, go on your way. Please regenerate the world as soon as possible."

" . . . Indeed," Kratos said in a low voice. "It would be best to abandon the situation here for world regeneration."

"No! I can't just ignore this!" Colette objected.

"Colette's right," Genis agreed with the Chosen. "If we leave things as they are now, Palmacosta may be destroyed just like Iselia." He turned to Lloyd. "You think so, too, don't you, Lloyd?"

Raine folded her arms, and stared up at the trees above.

"Yes, what you say is true. But I still wish to side with Kratos," she said. "If you don't want to see cities destroyed, you should avoid contact with the Desians."

Colette shook her head, still against what they were saying.

"No, that's not right. Regenerating the world and saving the people in front of us are not exclusive of each other. That's what I think."

"If that is how you feel, Colette," Raine said, "then we do not have any right to stop you. The only one who has the right to make decisions on this journey is you, the Chosen One." She looked at Lloyd with a concerned gaze. "Is that alright with you, Lloyd?"

"That was my intention from the beginning," Lloyd growled. "Remember what I said? I'm going to destroy them all."

Neil sighed. "Still . . ."

"It's alright," Genis assured him. "Colette is saying this is what she wants."

Raine stepped forward. "Now, then, we have two courses we can take," she began. "The first one is to go on ahead and infiltrate the ranch and rescue Chocolat and the other captives. Now that things have come to this, if we leave the ranch alone, it will surely result in a second Iselia."

"Our second option is to confirm Dorr's true motives. If he has planned a trap, then he knows the layout of the ranch well. Let's let him talk for a bit."

"What are you going to do to Dorr?" Neil asked, his voice shaken with fear.

" . . . You'd better not ask that," Genis snickered. "Raine's punishment is painful."

Raine hit him hard across the head.

"Thinking logically, dealing with Dorr first is the correct choice," Kratos said.

"What do you think, Lloyd?" Colette asked, turning to her friend.

Lloyd stopped to think for a moment. He scratched his head.

"Let's return to Palmacosta. We'll hear what Dorr has to say first."

"Yeah," Genis agreed with him.

Colette sighed in defeat. "But let's save Chocolat as soon as we can. I'm sure she's scared and lonely by herself."

"My, even Lloyd makes rational decisions sometimes," Raine snickered.

"So it seems," Kratos muttered. "Well then . . . let's go."

Neil stared at them all. "What should I . . . ?"

"Stay here," Lloyd told him. "We're going to put the squeeze on your commander." He smirked. ". . . It's better if you don't see it."

"Please watch over the status of the ranch from here," Colette asked him kindly.

" . . . Alright."


	11. Palmacosta Human Ranch

Hey guys,

Well, I've been updating chapters on a regular basis for this so far, although I may end up going on a little hiatus after a while just because I have a lot of other fanfictions and original works that I have to be working on, so if I do go on the hiatus, please don't be alarmed, I will get back to it again later. I never ever leave my fanfictions unfinished :) Thanks, please R&R! :D

-Uzuki Cheverie

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 11: Palmacosta Human Ranch**

The group had rushed to Palmacosta, and had headed straight for the building where they would find Governor-General Dorr, and maybe get all of these complications sorted out.

When they entered the building, they were alarmed to see that he wasn't there. Even his daughter, Kilia, and the soldiers that usually guarded the place were gone.

"There's no one here," Lloyd muttered.

Colette stopped, and stared at the door leading to the basement.

"I think I hear voices from below," she whispered.

". . . Really?" Lloyd stopped to listen as well. "I don't hear anything."

"There's no one here. We should head down to the basement," said Kratos.

"Yeah."

They cautiously went down into the basement, down a flight of stairs until they made it into a small room that had two sets of prison cells. They stopped to listen when they saw Dorr talking to a Desian soldier. Dorr had a distressed look in his eyes.

"When will my wife . . . when will Clara return to her original form?" Dorr asked, his voice strained.

"Not yet," the soldier said. "You still haven't paid us enough Gald. You've been paying us less and less."

"This is the best I can do!" Dorr exclaimed. "The tolls, the municipal taxes, the offerings to the Church of Martel . . . there's nowhere left to squeeze more money from!"

"Well, I suppose this will do . . ." the Desian growled as he looked at the bag filled with Gald in his hand, ". . . for today. I'm sure Lord Magnius will remove the demon seed depending on your next contribution."

Then the soldier bade him farewell with a nod, and then turned and left the room by the door off to the side.

Kilia tugged on her father's robes.

"Father . . ."

"Just a little while longer," Dorr told her. "Just a little more an . . . and Clara will be back to normal. I'll raise the fees on the pilgrimages and . . ."

to normal. I'll raise the fees on the pilgrimages and…

Having heard enough from them, Lloyd stepped forward.

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked sternly.

Dorr spun around to face Lloyd.

"What's the matter?" Lloyd snickered. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Um, Lloyd . . ." Genis whispered. "That's a really clichéd line . . ."

"Shut up, Genis!" Lloyd hissed back.

"What are you doing here?" Dorr exclaimed. "Neil! Where's Neil?"

"I'm afraid Neil's not here," Raine said, a slightly devious smile on her face.

"So . . . Neil betrayed me!"

"What's wrong with your wife?" Lloyd asked worriedly. "Has she been taken hostage or something?"

Dorr scowled at him. "Hostage? Don't make me laugh! If you want to see my wife . . ." He walked towards the prison cell that had a tarp placed over the front. ". . . She's right here!" He pulled the tarp off, revealing a monster that looked similar to Marble's monster form locked within the prison cell.

The group jumped in shock at the horrific sight.

"Ahh!" Genis screamed. "W-What's that monster?"

Colette gently touched his shoulder. "She's crying . . . she's crying out in pain . . . You mustn't call her a monster . . . !"

Lloyd turned back to Dorr. "You don't mean . . ."

"That's right!" Dorr hissed. "This is what's become of my wife, Clara!"

"So that's why you told everyone she passed away," Raine said.

"My father, the previous Governor-General, was a fool. Because of his defiant stance against the Desians, they killed him, then planted the demon seed in my wife as a warning." He looked at the monster in the cell, his transformed wife. "If I cooperate with them, they will give me the medicine to save her."

"But . . . that means you're betraying the people of this city!" Genis yelled angrily.

"What do I care?" Dorr's voice quivered. "We'll never escape the rule of the Desians anyway."

Lloyd shook his head in denial. "Colette will . . . the Chosen will save the world!"

"The Chosen's journey of world regeneration is not absolute. Don't forget that the last one ended in failure! Besides, the people of this city are satisfied with my way. They just don't know I'm working for the Desians."

Lloyd grit his teeth with searing rage. "Shut up! What do you mean, your 'way'? I'm sorry about your wife. But think of all those people who believed in you, only to be sent off to the ranch! Any of them may have wound up just like your wife!"

"Silence, boy!" Dorr snapped. "Stop acting like your justice is absolute!"

Now he was pissed.

"Where do you get off? Don't even start spewing the word, 'justice'! I hate that word! If you wanted to save your wife, you should have resigned your position as Governor-General and searched for a cure, or help, or whatever! You're a worthless jerk who couldn't give up his social status even for his own wife!"

Colette jumped in between them.

"Lloyd, please stop! Not everyone's strong enough to stand up against the Desians! Please, stop this . . . !"

"Colette . . ."

Colette turned around to face Dorr, and smiled at him.

"What if we go and get the medicine you mentioned? Then you wouldn't have to side with the Desians anymore."

Dorr's eyes filled with a sudden sadness. "You . . . forgive me for what I've done?"

"It's not our place to forgive you. That's up to the people of this city. But I know Martel will forgive you. The Goddess Martel is always within you, awaiting your own, personal regeneration."

"Within me . . . ?"

Kilia snickered from behind him.

"Absurd!" she laughed.

She pulled out a knife and stabbed Dorr right in the back, causing him to fall to the floor.

"The Goddess Martel would never lend her air to an inferior human being!" Kilia giggled.

The group was shocked at the little girl's actions.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd exclaimed.

Genis stared at her wide-eyed. "How could you do that to your own father?"

"That's a laugh," Kilia scoffed. Her small body suddenly changed, turning into a demon with rigid arms, twisted horns, and a smug face.

"I am a servant of Pronyma, leader of the Five Grand Cardinals who rule over the Desians. I was merely assigned to observe the new human cultivation technique, developed by Magnius. There's no way that a superior half-elf such as I could have a fool of a father like this!"

"A . . . fool of a father?" Colette gasped.

"Just look at him!" Kilia sneered as she smiled at the wounded body of Dorr on the ground. "He didn't even notice that his own daughter was dead . . . because he was too busy chasing after medicine that doesn't exist . . . in order to save his monster wife!" She burst into a demonic laugh.

"You . . . !" Lloyd growled.

"How could you?" Colette gasped, and threw her chakram at the monster. The chakram struck the creature hard.

Kilia smiled deviously at Colette, and then charged at the group with her claws spread. While Lloyd and Kratos swung their swords at the beast, Colette stayed back with Raine while she summoned special magic to her side, magic that she had learned after gaining her angel powers. It was a special spell that launched magical light chakrams at the enemy. When she released the spell, the light chakrams soared towards Kilia, leaving faint and colorful angel feathers behind as they flew at the monster, until they struck her hard. The attack seemed to affect her a lot.

Before Colette could start warming up the spell again, Kilia sprouted strange wings and a tail with a strange sort of stinger at the end. She swung her tail towards Lloyd and cut him, but it didn't seem poisonous at all, so he continued fighting. Kilia had noticed Colette's magic and started to float towards her.

Lloyd gripped his swords and jumped in front of Kilia, determined to keep her away from the Chosen as she prepared another angel attack. Kratos joined in as well, and Genis cast a wall of water magic to hold her back while the two swordsmen struck at her.

Finally, Colette finished her spell and cast the light chakrams at Kilia again, the chakrams bursting into a colorful light as they smashed into her monstrous body.

Kilia fell to her knees, her wings and stinger tail disappearing.

"This can't be . . ." Kilia gasped from the floor, clutching the wound in her chest. She dragged herself across the stone floor, towards Clara's cell.

"Fine . . . then I'll set this monster free and let it kill you . . .!"

With her last dying breath, Kilia reached up and unlocked the cage, opening the door. Then her body disappeared into nothingness.

In her monster form, Clara trudged out of the cell, approaching the group.

"No, not again . . . !" Lloyd exclaimed. "Do I have to kill another innocent victim?"

The monster brought its mutated hand up to strike them, but Colette jumped in between them.

"Stop!" she yelled. The monster dropped its hand back down, and went in the other direction, leaving through the door that the Desian had left through earlier.

"Wait!" Genis called out to the creature, but it was already gone.

Dorr, who was laying on the ground holding his chest wound with one hand, grabbed Lloyd's attention as he tapped his leg. He was having a hard time breathing.

". . . Is Kilia safe?" he coughed.

"Kilia is . . ." Genis began, but Lloyd interrupted him.

"Don't worry," Lloyd told him. "It seems your real daughter is fine."

"Lloyd . . ." Genis gave Lloyd a deceitful look.

"I see . . . You . . . your name is Lloyd?"

"Yeah . . ." Lloyd said with a nod of his head.

"Professor Sage, please, help him!" Colette begged Raine.

Raine stepped forward with her oak staff, placing the head of it near Dorr's chest as a light began to emanate from it. They waited, but nothing happened. With a distressed look in her eyes, Raine turned away and separated herself from the group, standing by herself near the corner of the room.

"Please . . ." Dorr choked. "Please save Chocolat. That poor girl . . . she was just used as a tool to lure you out."

Dorr took Lloyd's hand and placed a card in it. It looked like some kind of access card.

"The passcode is . . . three-three-four-one . . ."

"Got it," Lloyd said as he wrapped his hand around the card, taking it from the dying man's hand.

"And . . ." Dorr continued, his voice becoming weaker. " . . . I know this is a selfish request, but . . . if you somehow find a way to save my wife, please, help her return to her human form. When my daughter comes back, I don't want her to be all alone . . ."

"Okay," Lloyd replied. "I promise."

Dorr let out a final cough. "Thank you . . ." He closed his eyes and laid his head peacefully down against the stone floor before giving his final breath.

Kratos didn't seem moved by anything.

"Let's get going."

"Kratos!" Lloyd yelled, spinning to face him. "How can you just say that?"

"Settle down, Lloyd. What is it that we must do now?"

". . . Rescue Chocolat," Raine continued from where she was standing away from the group, still facing towards the wall, "then defeat Magnius, the leader of this region."

"Exactly," Kratos muttered.

Lloyd sighed in defeat. ". . . Yeah, I know. You're right, I'm sorry."

Genis took Lloyd's arm. "Let's go, Lloyd. Let's defeat the Desians."

Raine was about to turn to join them, but then stopped.

". . . My healing arts cannot even save one single life?"

Colette heard her whispering.

"Professor Sage? Did you say something?"

Raine shook her head, and smiled at the group as if nothing was wrong.

"No . . . it's nothing."

* * *

". . . No. Don't say anything. From the looks on your faces, I can imagine what has happened to Dorr."

Neil had a disdained look on his face.

Colette stepped forward. "But Dorr did say this: He wants us to save Chocolat."

". . . Governor-General Dorr . . ." Neil mourned, but only for a moment. He regained his state of face a moment after. "I understand. Please, take me along to carry out the Governor-General's last wish."

"Alright," Lloyd accepted.

". . . At any rate, let's see if we can find a place to use that key we received from Dorr," Raine said.

The group left their hiding place, which was placed smack in between the two pathways that lead to the ranch, each one leading to a different entrance. They took the one to the left, which lead to a locked door, a computer stationed right outside it.

Lloyd entered the passcode he had received from Dorr into the computer, which activated the sliding metal door. They ventured inside to an open room which didn't seem to have any Desians patrolling it.

Lloyd immediately recognized the device sitting near the wall – it was the same one that affected the Sorcerer's Ring from the Sylvarant Base.

Lloyd activated the machine, a ball of light bursting from the device and going straight into the ring on his finger. When he used the ring, everything around him suddenly turned green, as if a green lamp had been turned on around him.

"It looks like the surrounding area changed somehow . . ." Lloyd observed.

"It's . . . something like a radar," Raine explained.

"Ray . . . dar?"

"To put it simply, you can see things you couldn't see before."

"Hmm . . ."

The group continued on, not really finding much use in the new ability absorbed in the ring, until they entered a room which contained people trapped in prison cells, all of them wearing mangy clothes.

"It's the captives . . ." Genis whispered.

Colette nodded. "Please, let's save them."

"Yes, when you consider what will happen," Raine began, "we can't just leave them here like this."

"Shall we split into two groups, then?" Lloyd asked.

Neil stepped forward to object. "No, please leave this to me. Members of the Palmacosta army will be coming in soon. I'll remain here, join up with them, and free those people." He looked at Lloyd. "Please, take care of Chocolat."

"Okay, we'll leave it to you, then," Lloyd replied.

While the prisoners were being released, a little boy skipped over to Lloyd.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Lloyd asked. "You're not going to run away?"

"Thank you for saving me," the boy giggled. He held out a card for Lloyd; it looked a lot like the access card he had been given by Dorr, except it was blue. "Here, take this."

Lloyd took the card into his hand. "What's this?"

"I picked it up over there," the boy said, pointing to a spot just outside of one of the prison cells. "I saw a Desian treating that card as if it was really important."

"Thanks."

The boy giggled again and ran off to join the rest of the prisoners.

Lloyd and his group continued to explore the Desian ranch, a kind of terrified feeling haunting them as they walked. Being in a Desian facility sure wasn't pleasant – even Lloyd had hoped that his encounter with Marble would be the closest he would have to get to a Desian human ranch.

They did eventually run into a handful of Desians in one room, but they easily took them out, finding a card on them afterwards as well. It was similar to the card the boy had given him, except it was purple. They didn't know what the cards were for, but they figured that if the Desians needed them, then they might need them for something as well.

Lloyd and Colette were exploring a small lower area, when Colette noticed something on the platform just above them.

"Something sparkled," she said.

"It's too high up to see," Lloyd grumbled as he strained to see exactly what it was.

"Wait here, I'll check it out." Colette brought out her angel wings and flew up to the platform.

"Let's see, it was right around here . . ."

Colette finally saw the sparkling object and picked it up – like everything else they had found in the ranch, it was a card, except it was red.

They didn't really know what to do with the cards, but they soon found out when they made it to a teleporter that required three key cards to activate. With the three coloured cards in hand, Lloyd swiped them into the computer, activating the teleporter. They stepped onto the machine, their bodies disappearing as they left the room and entered a new one.

"Lloyd, look!" Genis gasped when they teleported to the next room. He pointed at the Desians that were cornering Chocolat with whips in hand.

"Stop!" Lloyd yelled as he ran to the Desians with his swords. "Let her go!" He took the Desians out quickly by himself.

"You came to rescue me?" Chocolat asked, her eyes sparkling with joy.

"Yup!" Colette giggled. "Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Chocolat said. "Chosen One, everybody . . . thank you all so much."

"Ah, don't mention it . . ." Lloyd blushed.

"This is no time to be celebrating," Kratos interrupted them. "We still need to take care of Magnius."

"Assistant Governor-General Neil is taking the people imprisoned here to safety," Raine said. "Our job is to secure the control room and assure a safe escape."

A worried look crossed Chocolat's face. "Dorr finally mobilized his plans, didn't he?"

"Um . . ." Lloyd muttered. ". . . uh, yeah."

Chocolat thought for a moment, and then said, "I'm not sure if it's in the control room or not, but in the back is a platform that leads to a room filled with sparkling lights and other magical-looking things." She gestured them to another path. "I'll show you the way."

"Hmm, it may be a bit dangerous," Raine mumbled, "but we'd appreciate your help."

"Of course! Follow me!"

Chocolat lead the group of five to the teleporter that was at the end of another pathway. They stepped into the device with Chocolat, and reappeared in a room that definitely looked like a control room. Computers buzzed from all around them, and in the centre of the room was a huge, round machine.

"So this is the control room . . ." Lloyd muttered as he looked around at all the computers and machines.

A voice suddenly boomed out at them from nowhere.

"So the forsaken Chosen and her entourage of vermin have finally arrived."

"For . . . saken?" Kratos mumbled to himself.

Magnius spun around to face them from his chair which was actually in the middle of the machine in the centre of the room.

"You got it all mixed up, Magnius," Lloyd hissed. "You're the one that's forsaken. Your time here is up."

Magnius cast a glance at the teleporter on the other side of the room; suddenly, four Desian soldiers appeared and ran to aid him, surrounding the group with their weapons.

"We're surrounded . . . !" Colette gasped.

"Hahaha! Just like a bunch of stupid vermin!" Magnius laughed. "I know your every move. And I know about those inferior beings trying to escape, too."

An image suddenly burst in front of them, showing Neil and the captives walking through one of the rooms.

"How did Neil get in there?" Colette wondered as she stared at the image.

"That's a projector," Kratos explained. "A product of magitechnology."

Raine nodded in agreement, and joined in on Kratos' explanation. "It's a device that displays images of people and things far away. We were displayed on here as well."

On the projector screen, the doors suddenly closed on Neil and the captives, trapping them in the room.

"Oh no, they're trapped!" Genis exclaimed.

Magnius laughed again. "Hahaha! A wasted effort! Everything you've done is meaningless!"

"How so?" Lloyd challenged with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "We can rescue everyone after we take care of you!"

"Big words from someone whose futile actions caused the disaster at Iselia!"

Lloyd stared at him, and then hung his head in shame. "Th . . . that was . . ."

Magnius smiled at all of them. "I know, how about I recreate that incident using the vermin on the projector? Watch – I'll unleash their Exspheres and turn them into monsters!"

Lloyd snapped his head back up, glaring at him with fiery eyes. "No! Stop!"

"Come on, now," Magnius chuckled. "I'll be more than happy to turn them into monsters, just like that old lady you killed . . . just like Marble! Hahahaha!"

Chocolat's eyes widened in shock.

"Marble?" she asked. "You don't mean . . ."

"Oh, but I do, my little Chocolat," Magnius replied with a satisfied smile. "Dear old granny Marble was sent to the Iselia ranch, where she was killed by Lloyd. I heard she met a pitiful end!"

Genis shook his head and looked at Chocolat with distressed eyes.

"Wait, it wasn't like that!" he tried to convince her. "Lloyd tried to save her! But the Desians turned her into a monster, and-"

"Lloyd killed her," Magnius finished for the elf.

"No . . ." Chocolat gasped before backing up into the arms of the Desian soldiers.

"Chocolat!" Colette cried out.

"Dammit! Let her go!" Lloyd demanded the soldiers.

"Leave me alone!" Chocolat screamed at him. "I refuse to be saved by Grandma's murderer! I'd rather die!"

"You musn't say things like that!" Colette begged. "Don't throw your life away!"

". . . Dorr will save me," Chocolat said. "Leave me alone!"

Magnius burst into laughter. "Right, Dorr, huh. Well, whatever." He gave a quick wave at his soldiers. "Take her away!"

Two of the soldiers stayed behind while the other two took Chocolat away.

"Stop!" Lloyd yelled as he drew his swords, ready to fight. They took down the Desians quickly, and turned their attention to Magnius afterwards.

"Dammit, how could you idiots allow these inferior beings to defeat you?" Magnius roared, his face seething with rage. He lowered his hovering chair and got to his feet, approaching the group with an oversized hammer.

"Fine, I'll take care of you myself! I'll put an end to the Chosen, right along with you fools who can't let go of your elven blood!"

Seething with rage, Lloyd charged for the Desian leader with both swords in hand, but just as he got close, Magnius brought up his hand and grabbed him. Flames suddenly burst from his hand, burning through to Lloyd's skin until Magnius knocked him back with a final blow.

Raine immediately cast a healing spell on Lloyd, but he could still feel the faint effects of the burning. He didn't stop though – he kept going after the leader with his swords, even after Magnius pulled his own weapon out at him.

Before stepping into battle, Kratos took Colette away, in the hopes that she wouldn't be hurt. And although she protested against it, she stayed anyway, knowing that it was in Kratos' and the rest of the group's best interest that she didn't get hurt. Kratos then took off into battle as well with his iron sword drawn.

As Kratos charged at him, Magnius pulled his hammer back and then swung it in a crescent-moon motion at the mercenary, striking him several feet back. It was hard to get close to the guy with the hammer, but with Genis on the sidelines throwing spells at him every which way, it helped to break his guard for both Lloyd and Kratos to attack close-range with their swords.

Magnius jumped back at one point, completely pulling away his hammer, and then started to warm up a spell. Before Lloyd and Kratos could jump in to interrupt it, he cast a spell that caused a lance of flames to fly from the air straight for the group. Kratos suddenly jumped in front of Lloyd and used his force field magic to protect them.

Right after Magnius had cast the spell, Lloyd and Kratos jumped right in, striking Magnius down with two simultaneous sword thrusts.

With two deep sword wounds – both in either sides of his torso – Magnius slumped to the ground, dropping his hammer and clutching both wounds with his hands, blood soaking through his clothes and staining his hands.

"Ugh . . . How? How could a superior half-elf like me . . ."

Kratos stood over Magnius, sword in hand.

"It's because you are a fool, Magnius," Kratos hissed, his eyes bearing down on Magnius with a cold cruelty. "Cruxis has accepted Colette as the Chosen."

". . . What?" Magnius coughed.

"That's right!" Lloyd said with determination in his voice. "Colette is going to regenerate the world! We're not going to lose to someone like you!"

Magnius glared at them. "So . . . you're . . . then . . . I was deceived . . ." He took a final breath and then collapsed his head to the floor.

Raine hurried over to one of the computers and activated the projector so that they could see what was going on.

"Lloyd!" Genis called Lloyd over to the screen where they watched Chocolat walk away from the ranch with the two soldiers from before.

"Dammit!" Lloyd swore under his breath.

Raine continued to play with the various buttons and screens. "This should allow the people imprisoned in the ranch to escape."

"What about the Exspheres implanted in them?" Kratos asked. "Without Key Crests, it's only a matter of time before they go out of control."

"Can't we just take the Exspheres off of them?" Genis suggested.

"It's dangerous to attempt to remove an Exsphere lacking a Key Crest. I would imagine only a dwarf could handle it."

"Then we ask Dirk to do it," Colette said with a smile.

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed. "Let's contact my dad."

". . . We can work out the details later," Raine said as she stared at the computer screen. "Right now, I'm going to program this place to self-destruct." She turned to face the group. "Ready?"

Lloyd, Genis, and Colette both jumped in surprise.

"Are you serious?" Lloyd exclaimed. He was both shocked and interested – he didn't know she could get the machines to do that to the ranch.

Genis gave Raine a worried look. "Raine, if you do that-"

"At the very least, we'll deal a major blow to the Desian stranglehold over this region," Raine cut in to explain. "If we're going to strike them, it should be thorough and decisive."

"Raine . . ."

"Remember, Genis. We're not like them. We're different." Raine turned back to the computer and pressed a button, causing an alarm to go off.

"I've set the self-destruct timer for ten minutes," she said to the group. "Let's hurry and evacuate."

* * *

"I must inform Forcystus . . . while I can . . ." Magnius gasped as he dragged himself across the floor towards the hologram communication machine in one corner of the room. He reached up for the machine's controls, when suddenly a hologram showed up, showing a stout man wearing dark green clothing, his purple hair spiked off to the back and his eyes glaring at him from behind the small spectacles.

"I have a slight problem with you contacting Lord Forcystus," the man said sternly. "He'd realize what I'm trying to do."

"Rodyle . . . !" Magnius choked. "You . . . you deceived me! There was no order to eliminate the Chosen, was there?"

The man named Rodyle snickered. "Collecting Gald for me, attempting to eliminate the Chosen for me . . . you've been quite useful, Magnius." He gave Magnius a playful wave. "Farewell! I hope you enjoy the afterlife!"

The hologram disappeared, leaving Magnius alone in the control room.

"Dammit . . ." Magnius coughed. "Lord Yggdrasill, glory to the coming Age of Half-elves . . . !"


	12. The Spiritua Stone and the Seal of Water

So I finished this chapter a while ago and I guess for some reason it slipped my mind to actually UPDATE the story. Hope you guys enjoy it! :D Please R&R.

- Uzuki Cheverie

**Tales of Symphonia**

**Chapter 12: The Spiritua Statue and the Seal of Water**

The group hurried out of the ranch. When they made it out the front doors, they ran into Neil, who seemed to be waiting for them.

"What happened to the captives?" Lloyd asked the assistant Governor-General.

"We've moved them all to Palmacosta," Neil replied.

"Then, Neil, please get out of here, too!" Genis exclaimed. "Hurry!" Then he ran off, Lloyd following close behind.

"What?"

Colette, who was near the back of the group, stopped to answer him.

"It's going to explode!"

Then she ran off as well. Neil took off into a sprint, trying to catch up with the rest of the group.

They had just made it out of the area of the ranch when flames and explosions burst out of the building, turning what was once a horrific prison into a pile of rubble and destroyed metal.

"I thought I was going to die . . ." Lloyd panted, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm glad everyone's alright," Colette gasped.

Neil looked around. "Ah . . . what about Chocolat?"

"I think she was taken to another location," Raine said.

"I see . . ."

"If she's alright, she can still be rescued," Kratos told them, which lightened their spirits a little.

"Yes," Neil agreed with him. "If you learn Chocolat's location, please let us know immediately. Even Dorr really wanted to save her."

"Right," Lloyd said with determination. "I swear we'll find her."

Genis stepped forward to speak. "Also, the captives have something called an Exsphere embedded in them," he informed Neil.

Lloyd nodded. "It's dangerous to leave them as they are now. You need to send a letter in my name to a dwarf named Dirk who lives in Iselia. I'm sure he'll help you get them removed."

"Dirk, in Iselia," Neil confirmed with a nod. "I understand. Then, I shall go back to the city. Please, stop by Palmacosta and visit us again anytime."

* * *

As they were travelling, Lloyd and the group found themselves at the Thoda Island Sightseeing Boat Dock, which had a building that was very similar to a House of Salvation. Inside, they were greeted by a girl who went by the name of "Candy".

"Hi!" she greeted them with a sweet smile. "Welcome to the Thoda Island Sightseeing Boat Dock! This is the most convenient – well, the _only_ way to view the Thoda Geyser."

The group didn't say anything towards her brief joke.

"It will be two hundred Gald for a round trip," Candy said, trying to fill in the awkward silence. "Would you like to use the boat?"

"Sure," Lloyd said, remembering that they had to go out there anyway to get the Spiritua Statue that the priest had dropped out in the geyser on Thoda Island.

"Thank you very much," Candy said happily as she took the two hundred Gald from them.

The group left the little house and went for the dock, where they saw the washtubs that were floating in the water, tied to the pier so that they wouldn't float away.

"It's a . . . washtub?" Lloyd wondered as he looked at the wooden tubs.

"Yep, it's a washtub . . ." Genis sighed.

"Washtubs . . ." Kratos muttered. "Hmm . . ."

"Wow!" Colette cheered, seeming to be the only person who was impressed. "This looks like it'll be fun!"

Raine looked at the tubs with a sick look on her face. She backed away a little from the washtubs.

"I . . . I'm going to wait here," she said weakly. "Go on ahead without me."

"What's wrong, Professor Sage?" Lloyd asked, turning to face her.

"N-Nothing. I'm not getting in that thing."

"It looks fun!" Colette said with a smile. "Come on, let's get in!"

Genis went and grabbed Raine's hand, pulling her towards the end of the dock. "Yeah, Raine!"

Raine suddenly let out a panicked screech. The group stared at her, their eyes wide and their mouths agape.

". . . Ahh?" Lloyd quoted her scream. "Professor Sage . . . are you . . . afraid of water or something?"

"I . . ." Raine shook her head. "I was just starting to say, 'Ahh, this should be fun!'."

Raine carefully got into the washtub, standing as still as she could.

"Um . . . sure."

* * *

Raine had her face hunched into her arms all the way to the island, until they finally docked in at the pier.

"We've . . . finally . . . arrived . . ."

"That was fun, wasn't it, Lloyd?" Colette said to Lloyd with a wide smile.

"Sea water came in and I thought I was going to sink!" Genis trembled.

Lloyd offered his hand out to the Professor to help her out of the washtub.

"Here, Professor."

"Ah, right . . . thank you." Raine took his hand, and he pulled her up out of the washtub.

". . . That was a rare experience," Kratos mumbled as he tied the washtub down to the dock.

The group continued on towards the area where the geyser was located, in the centre of the island. Tourists were watching it as the steam rose from the hot water, and others were on tours with tour guides who were explaining the history of the geyser.

"Wow!" Lloyd exclaimed excitedly.

Genis turned to his friend. "Lloyd, a geyser is a type of hot spring that periodically erupts with boiling water and water vapour."

Lloyd hung his head down, trying to hide his embarrassed face. "Y-Yeah, I knew that."

Colette stared off, away from the geyser and towards a bulletin board that was placed near a stone platform next to the geyser.

"Hmm . . ."

"What is it, Chosen?" Kratos asked, trying to see what Colette was seeing.

"That sign . . . over on that lookout platform . . ." she muttered, squinting her eyes to try and recognize it.

Kratos looked at it as well. "What about the sign?"

"It looks kind of familiar . . . Maybe it's just my imagination."

The group headed closer to the sign, but before Colette could get a closer look at it, they saw the Spiritua Statue, where it was lodged in some rocks on the other side of the geyser.

Having seen the statue, Genis pulled out his kendama.

"All I have to do is stop it with my magic, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lloyd said. "While it's stopped, I'll go down there along the rocky parts and get the statue."

Genis thought for a moment as he stared at the statue sitting along the rocks.

"The ice I can make will . . . well, it's just an estimate, but I don't think it'll last more than about thirty seconds."

"Gotcha," Lloyd replied with a determined smile and a nod.

"Lloyd, be careful," Colette said worriedly. "Don't do anything dangerous."

"Even my healing arts have their limits," Raine warned him.

"You have a bad habit of getting cocky," Kratos agreed with the Professor. "Be careful."

Genis readied his kendama and prepared a magic spell.

"Icicle!" he shouted. The water in the geyser quickly froze over with a thick layer of ice, but it was already melting fast from the steam.

"Okay then, here I go!" Lloyd said before leaping onto the rocks that hadn't been froze over and making his way towards the statue. He jumped from rock to rock, avoiding any bursts of steam that were escaping through small pockets in the ice. Soon, he made it to the other side. He snatched the statue out from where it was wedged in, and then quickly made it back to the other side. Just as he made it back onto the ground, the ice melted, and the steam began rising again.

"You're amazing, Lloyd!" Colette cheered when he made it back. "I knew we could count on you!"

"Okay then, let's go back to that old man," Lloyd said boastfully as he showed off the statue in his hands. He gently set the statue into his bag with the rest of his things.

Still stuck on the sign, Colette urged the group towards it so she could get a better look at it and maybe remember where she had seen it before. When they went to the sign, they found an oracle stone hiding behind it.

"Hey, isn't this a whatchamacallit stone?" Lloyd asked.

"An oracle stone," Kratos corrected him with an edge of shame in his voice.

"That must be why it looked so familiar!" Colette gasped.

"So this is the Seal of Water!" Raine gasped.

"Aww . . . that sucks," Lloyd groaned. "I didn't even need to get that Spiritua Statue!"

"Cheer up, Lloyd," Colette said to him, giving him a warm, comforting smile. "Just think of it as giving you the opportunity to have fun riding in the washtubs."

Lloyd sighed. ". . . Yeah, I guess, but . . ."

"Lloyd!" Genis growled, shooting his friend an angry look. "Let's hurry on inside! Come on, Colette!"

Colette nodded and stepped forward towards the stone. "Okay then, I'll try putting my hand on the stone. Here we go!" She lifted her hand and placed it on the stone surface of the podium. Up from above the geyser, a boulder that was edged in the wall burst into pieces, and a path of light formed between them and the cave that had been revealed from the destroyed boulder.

"Excellent . . . Now, let us begin the excavation at once!" Raine exclaimed with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"We're not here to excavate anything . . ." Lloyd grumbled as they began walking along the magical bridge towards the cave.

* * *

The assassin, Sheena Fujibayashi, instantly spotted the Chosen and her group walking up towards the secret entrance that had just been revealed. She began to run for the lookout platform, but Noishe ran in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Corrine!" she called. A poof of smoke appeared from next to her, and then a small, squirrel-like creature emerged.

Just as Sheena was about to get around Noishe, the pathway leading to the cave disappeared.

"I'll get you next time for sure!" she growled.

Noishe howled loudly at the assassin and her mysterious pet.

"Why does this weird animal block the way?"

* * *

As the group entered the caverns of the Thoda Geyser, Kratos stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Lloyd asked, having noticed his hesitation.

Kratos looked back at the entrance. ". . . It looks like that girl didn't make it inside."

"What girl?"

"That assassin. The one after the Chosen."

A look of panic struck Lloyd's face. "She followed us?"

Kratos raised an eyebrow of doubt at him. "You didn't notice?"

"I . . . I was busy thinking and stuff."

"Never let your guard down, ever. Assuming you want to survive."

"Oh, yes, of course, you're soooo perfect. You'd never screw up."

Kratos turned his head off to the side, his hair covering across his eyes.

"Even I make mistakes. I made a terrible one . . ."

"What?"

Kratos turned back to face him, and shook his head. ". . . Nothing. I shouldn't have said that. Forgive me." He continued past Lloyd to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Forgive you?" Lloyd asked, although he didn't hear him. "What? You don't make any sense sometimes."

Lloyd ran to catch up with the rest of his friends, who were examining a device that looked similar to the one he had found while trapped in the Sylvarant Base. Lloyd took the ring to it, and spheres of light flew towards it like before. When he used the ring, water came out.

"Water came out of the Sorcerer's Ring!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"The Thoda Geyser is a plentiful source of water," Genis observed, "so maybe it reacted to that."

"With this power, we can supply water even to distant areas," Raine said.

Lloyd looked down at the ring, and frowned. "But if all it does is squirt water, that sure seems kind of . . . weak."

They continued on through the ruins. The place was very dark and dank, and had various puddles and ponds sitting within the cavern. In one area, it almost seemed like they were outside again, as the room was much brighter, and seemed a lot more lively.

After exploring the ruins for a while, opening new doors and paths with the water from the Sorcerer's Ring, the group soon made it to a room that was on a lower level. It was dark inside, but they could see the altar near the back of the room.

"This place is all dark and humid," Lloyd hissed angrily. "Let's hurry up and get out of here."

". . . We must release the seal first," Kratos said from behind him.

"I know that," Lloyd snapped.

As they got closer to the seal that was in the back of the dank room, Genis could feel the atmosphere changing.

"I feel . . . mana welling up . . ." he whispered. "It's the same as the Seal of Fire."

Suddenly, water burst up from around them, and from the waves arose a strange mermaid-like being, followed by two more creatures of the same form. The two creatures behind her carried harps.

Raine observed the monsters as she equipped her staff. To her knowledge, the monster that was in front of them was Adulocia, who was probably also the monster guarding the Seal of Water, just like how Ktugach was the monster guarding the Seal of Fire.

She stayed behind as the rest of them ran forward, preparing a defensive spell. She cast it on Lloyd first, who was always the one to get the first attack in on any kind of enemy, and usually the first to get hurt as well. The spell was designed to create a layer of defense around its target, so that if they got hit, it wouldn't do as much damage.

She warmed up more defensive spells, casting one on Colette, Genis, and then finally Kratos. Being a healer, she didn't think it would be a bother to leave herself out of the spell's effects, but then figured that it wouldn't hurt to protect herself as well, especially considering the creatures knew magic and could target her from way behind everybody else.

Kratos and Lloyd took the front lines, their blades swinging at the mermaids. Genis and Colette focused their magic on the Amphitras, taking them out first so that Lloyd and Kratos wouldn't be attacked by them while focusing entirely on Adulocia.

Suddenly, Kratos jumped back to where Genis was, and the two of them began warming up their own lightning spells. When they struck Adulocia with the spells, it appeared to do a lot more damage – lightning on water was powerful.

While Raine kept the group healed, Colette kept the creature from casting spells by attacking it, and Genis and Kratos exploiting its weak spot with lightning, Lloyd kept hacking away at her with his swords, until, finally, she fell, her body disappearing into the waves around her. The water settled, and from the altar a light shone from above.

A familiar voice echoed above them.

"Chosen of Regeneration . . . You have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar."

". . . Yes," Colette agreed, and stepped forward to the altar. Clasping her hands together and falling to her knees, she began to pray.

"Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"

Her wings emerged from her back, and she floated up fro the ground to meet her father, who had appeared from the light.

"You have done well, Chosen One, Colette," said Remiel. "The second seal is now released."

"Thank you, Father."

Remiel's face almost looked a little anguished. ". . . Accept this blessing from Cruxis. I hereby grant you additional angelic power."

"Ah . . . Father?"

Before Colette could speak, a magical light flew towards her, giving her more abilities of an angel. She didn't look different, and she didn't feel different.

"The next seal lies far north, in a place that gazes upon the end. Offer your prayers at the altar in that distant land."

"Father, have I done something to displease you?" Colette asked worriedly.

". . . It matters not. All that is needed is for you to become an angel. I will be waiting for you at the next seal. Colette . . . my daughter. Hurry, and become a true angel. Do not disappoint me . . ." With a few flaps of his wings, he disappeared back into the bright light.

Genis made a look of disgust. "What's up with him? He always talks like he's so important."

Raine glared at him. "Apologize to Colette!" she scolded him before hitting him hard over the head.

"It's alright . . ." Colette sighed, a look of sadness in her eyes. "Remiel really does sound like that."

"Well, shall we get going to the next seal?" Lloyd asked. ". . . Although, he was confusing as usual."

"Stop complaining," Kratos growled before he took the lead of the group. "Let's get moving."

The group made their way out of the dungeon and back down the path that they had opened with the oracle stone. But the moment they reached land again, Colette collapsed to the ground, her face pale and her skin trembling.

"Professor Sage! Colette's sick again!" Lloyd called out to Raine, immediately running to Colette's side.

"Oh no . . . we must let her rest immediately," Raine said firmly.

"Time to set up camp, then," said Kratos.

"Yes . . ." Raine agreed. "But if this is going to happen every time she releases a seal, Colette is going to have a difficult journey ahead of her. For the time being, I'm going to call the phenomenon 'Angel Toxicosis'."

Colette shook her head, trying to shake away the pain.

"Colette, are you okay?" Genis asked worriedly. "Does it hurt?"

"I'm fine," she whispered weakly. "It'll go away soon . . . I'm sorry for worrying everyone."

"Okay, that's enough," Lloyd groaned. "You're not allowed to apologize anymore, okay?"

"Hehehe . . . I'm sorry."

* * *

That night, when the group was sleeping, Lloyd found Colette still awake, staring at the stars above.

"Colette, you're still up?" he whispered, so not to wake up everybody else.

"Hehe . . . I couldn't sleep," she giggled.

"You may feel better now, but you still need to rest."

"I know. I'll go to sleep in a little bit. Don't worry."

Lloyd hung his head. "But still . . ."

Turning her gaze to Kratos, who was sitting wide-awake with Noishe, Colette replied, "Kratos is still awake, too. See?"

"That's because he volunteered to be the night watch," Lloyd growled. "You need to rest."

". . . Okay," Colette sighed.

Lloyd smiled. "Okay. Good night."

After he was gone, Colette sighed and looked down at the ground. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the world around her.

"Please . . . dream some good dreams for me, Lloyd."


End file.
